Cold and flu season is upon us everyone and don't I just know it. When you work in an environment where you're constantly surrounded by people it's bad enough, combine that with a pandemic where everybody has had their immune system shielded and it seems to have exasperated any weaknesses I might have had to the seasonal lurgy. I do try and follow a healthy diet but sometimes that's not enough and even with my daily multi-vitamin tablet I have recently started to feel the seasonal aches, pains and tell tale sniffles of an autumnal cold start to seep in.
Usually this would mean dosing myself up with warm drinks of honey and lemon (I know I should add ginger but I genuinely can't stand the taste of it) and making myself go to bed early to rest. So you can only imagine my excitement when I was sent a CBD product which focuses on helping the body and its defence system because A. I love the idea of integrating a benefit into a product I already use and B. no additional effort needed by me to remember to take it.
Apothem are a well-established brand in the CBD market and are known for their knowledge of infusing CBD with other key botanicals. I could go on about the wide range they offer but instead I'll keep this review precise and focused on the key product at hand which utilises Shiitake mushrooms, ginger, echinacea and goldenseal (to name a few!). To start, Shittake mushrooms have been proven to help improve immune function (Dai et al. 2015) as well as reduce inflammation (Diallo et al. 2020). Ginger is a well established traditional remedy and is known for it's anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-nausea properties (Bode & Dong, 2011) and echinacea is often used to fight the common cold as well as preventing one from developing (Lindenmuth & Lindenmuth, 2000), (Jawad et al. 2012). Finally, goldenseal is also known for it's anti-bacterial, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory effects so all in all, a really potent set of ingredients (Asmi & Lakshmi, 2013).
Now, after that seemingly in-depth look into the ingredients list and their purposes, I bet you're wondering about how I felt about this product and the impact it had on me and my body.
In in time when the threat of catching some sort of lurgy was ever present, I really liked this product. At the time of writing, I have yet to catch a cold despite being exposed to them on a daily (if not hourly) basis and this is the only thing that changed in my routine. Historically, I usually would have caught at least one cold by this point in the year so I am attributing the lack of one to Apothem's defence.
In addition to this, this product seemed to help ease the aches and pains that had started to creep into my body and on days where I would usually need to soak in a long bath I found that, that wasn't necessary. I also noticed that this product helped to keep my sciatic pain in check and to a minimum.I also found that I generally was sleeping better and felt more rested as a result which then had a positive impact on my energy and my mood. If you're looking for a CBD product that supports your immune system at the same time, this is it.
Apothem Labs Defence 1000mg CBD Oil Drops is £75 for 10ml.
*This post contains PR samples/gifted items, for my PR disclaimer, click here.
References:
Asmi, S. & Lakshmi, T. (2013) Therapeutic aspects of goldenseal. International Research Journal of Pharmacy. [Online] 4(9):41–43. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271236497_THERAPEUTIC_ASPECTS_OF_GOLDENSEAL [Accessed 1 October 2021].
Bode, A. & Dong, Z. (2011) The Amazing and Mighty Ginger. In: Benzie, F. & Wachtel-Galor, S. (eds.) Herbal Medicine: Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects. 2nd Edition. [E-book] Boca Raton, CRC Press/Taylor & Francis. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92775/ [Accessed 1 October 2021].
Dai, X., Stanilka, J., Rowe, C., Esteves, E., Nieves, C., Spaiser, S., Christman, M., Langkamp-Henken, B., & Percival, S (2015). Consuming Lentinula edodes (Shiitake) Mushrooms Daily Improves Human Immunity: A Randomized Dietary Intervention in Healthy Young Adults. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. [Online] 34(6), 478–487. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/07315724.2014.950391 [Accessed 1 October 2021].
Diallo, I., Boudard, F., Morel, S., Vitou, M., Guzman, C., Saint, N., Michel, A., Rapior, S., Traoré, L., Poucheret, P., & Fons, F. (2020). Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Potential of Shiitake Culinary-Medicinal Mushroom, Lentinus edodes (Agaricomycetes), Sporophores from Various Culture Conditions. International journal of medicinal mushrooms, 22(6), 535–546. https://doi.org/10.1615/IntJMedMushrooms.2020034864 [Accessed 1 October 2021].
Jawad, M., Schoop, R., Suter, A., Klein, P. & Eccles,R. (2012) Safety and Efficacy Profile of Echinacea purpurea to Prevent Common Cold Episodes: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. [Online] 1. Available: https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/841315 [Accessed 1 October 2021].
Lindenmuth, G., & Lindenmuth, E. (2000). The efficacy of echinacea compound herbal tea preparation on the severity and duration of upper respiratory and flu symptoms: a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study. Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.). [Online] 6(4), 327–334. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1089/10755530050120691 [Accessed 1 October 2021].