The topic of whether consuming CBD oil is capable of causing weight gain is somewhat complicated.
Even though the preliminary animal and in-vitro studies are showing that CBD is potentially beneficial for metabolic function (reducing food intake and speeding up metabolism), some people do experience an increase in appetite from consuming CBD products.
What causes great confusion among cannabidiol researchers is that the vast majority of CBD oil users never experience this side effect, while some unfortunately do.
A lot more research on human participants needs to be conducted in order for this unusual effect to be completely understood.
What’s definitely known so far is that the aforementioned CBD-produced increase in appetite is a relatively rare side effect.
A 2018 review surveyed 2,409 CBD users, and found that only 6.35% of them reported increased hunger as a side effect.
It’s also still unclear whether this increase in appetite that some CBD users experience translates to any corresponding increase in their body weight.
If you’re fearful that CBD oil will make you gain weight, it’s probably best to try using it and determine for yourself if it results in an increase in appetite.
Since a very small percentage of users have to deal with this mysterious side effect, chances are you most likely won’t have to.
It’s also plausible that the levels of THC in a CBD oil product have something to do with this. THC is the main psychoactive constituent of both hemp and cannabis, and it’s known to cause an increase in appetite.
Different kinds of CBD oil contain different amounts of THC. Full-spectrum CBD oils have the largest amount of this cannabinoid, broad-spectrum CBD oils have significantly smaller amounts of THC (less than 0.3%), and CBD oils made with CBD isolate don’t contain any THC.
Finally, it’s speculated that the genetic differences in people are also implicated, but all in all, it seems that this side effect varies from person to person.
