NutraCast: MDbio on melatonin-free sleep supplementation and the power of research
When you want better sleep, what do you turn to? If you’re like many Americans, melatonin likely comes to mind. The hormone dominates the sleep supplements category and is responsible for over 90% of all sleep supplement sales in natural and mass retail channels, according to data from SPINS.
MDbio recently published a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled decentralized trial in the journal Nutrients that assessed sleep when taking a melatonin-free supplement. Today we’re going to speak with someone from MDbio about that study and the importance of placebo-controlled designs. Joining me now is Brenden Dougherty CEO of MDbio. Hi Brenden and welcome to the NutraCast.
Brenden Dougherty, CEO of MDbio, explained that the study had 620 participants with three different arms: one that featured a formulation higher in THC and lower in botanicals, a second with less THC and more botanicals and the control group.
To everyone’s surprise, the formulation with the smaller amount of THC and a higher amount of botanical ingredients showed the most promise.
“I've been in the cannabis space for quite some time. This was a paradigm shift for us,” said Dougherty. “More research is needed, more of these studies would need to be performed to be concrete in that knowledge, but at least it shows a trend that the higher botanicals are actually kind of the power behind our sleep product.”
To hear more about the study with Radicle Science, why placebo-controlled studies are crucial in establishing efficacy and why MDbio doesn’t include melatonin in its sleep products, listen to the NutraCast.
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