This is an extract from the paper, Cannabis-infused foods: Phytonutrients, health, and safe product innovations, first published on 12 September 2024.

Markets on the Rise, So Are Consumer Safety Concerns

Cannabis-infused foods are currently on the rise in markets all around the world.

Meanwhile, there are concerns over the health implications for consumers. Studies have explored the therapeutic potential and nutritional and economic benefits of cannabis usage.

Yet, the phytonutrients, processing methods, and health implications of cannabis-infused foods have not been well explored. This review evaluates existing evidence on the nutritional, processing, safety, and phytonutrient composition of cannabis-infused food products and their medicinal and functional prospects.

Cannabis seeds contain the highest amount of dietary nutrients, while flowers contain the highest amount of bioactive constituents. Oils, butter, seeds, flowers, and leaf extracts are the plant forms currently incorporated into food products such as beverages, baked products, cooking ingredients, functional foods, nutraceuticals, and nootropics.

Cannabis-infused foods have been found to offer therapeutic benefits for pain management, brain function, gut health, and certain cancers.

Findings also show significant constraints associated with cannabis-infused foods regarding dosage guidelines, limited research, efficacy, and long-term health effects on consumers.

This is further worsened by the lack of policies that regulate the industry. To realize the full potential of cannabis use in the food and health industries and in research, regulatory guidelines are needed to control dosages and improve its efficient use in these industries.

This will go a long way to ensure the safety of cannabis users and enhance responsible production, marketing, and distribution.

Cannabis and Foodstuffs

The evolution of the cannabis plant from a forbidden substance to a highly valued plant has significantly influenced the food industry. This shift is largely influenced by the increasing legalization of cannabis in many countries across the globe. This has increased acceptance of cannabis-infused food products as promising alternatives with both dietary and medicinal benefits.

Consumers’ demand and high expectations for healthy, safe, and sustainably produced natural foods have also accelerated research efforts worldwide to explore these alternative food products to meet this ever-increasing demand.

Cannabis-infused food products cover a wide range of products such as chocolates, concentrates, cooking ingredients, baked goods, savoury snacks, tinctures, candies, and beverages.

These products are made by incorporating extracts from the flower, leaves, or seed of the cannabis plant into several food matrices. Generally, the cannabis leaves, flowers, or seeds are dried, stored for use in these foods, or further processed into extracts, tinctures, oils, and butter.

Welcome to the World of ‘Medibles’

Different parts of the cannabis plant such as flowers, seeds, leaves, and extracted oils offer benefits including neuroregulation, relief from nausea, pain management, appetite stimulation, and treatment of sleep disorders, epilepsy, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Therefore, the growing acceptance of cannabis food products, as well as the continuous search for novel therapeutic compounds, presents immense opportunities for the food, pharmaceutical, and other health industries to innovate and produce food products enriched with bioactive ingredients.

Besides, increasing scientific evidence shows that cannabis-infused food products can exhibit significant therapeutic and health-promoting effects, making them highly valuable in the commercial marketplace.

For instance, in one longitudinal study, edibles administered to glaucoma patients over 6 months improved their eyesight. A study found that optimizing cannabis strains in producing hemp seed cake resulted in functionally enhanced products that improved overall gut health.

Thus, incorporating cannabis into food ingredients allows manufacturers to create functionally improved products with enhanced health and nutritional capabilities such as nootropics and nutraceuticals. Improvements in the formulation, manufacturing processes, and safety considerations of cannabis-infused food products also provide enhanced flavors and increased bioactive benefits for consumers’ health.

Despite the potential benefits, there is a need for comprehensive reviews on the extraction and processing methods of cannabis-infused foods, health implications, and types of cannabis-infused foods.

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