‘I’VE GOT MORE TO LOSE BY NOT TAKING CBD’

Dr Anna Persaud, 48, is CEO of the science-led beauty company This Works. She started taking CBD oil after being diagnosed with dysplasia in both hips 18 months ago

‘I trained as a PT in my twenties and taught aerobics classes while I was studying for my PHD in biochemistry. My love of fitness stayed with me and I continued to run regularly, but trouble with one of my hips evolved into a debilitating pain that made walking a challenge. Anti-inflammatory medication upset my gut and, faced with a double-hip replacement in my forties, I looked for alternatives.

It was a chance conversation with my yoga instructor that led me to CBD oil. I started taking it every day – 35mg via a dropper under my tongue. Within five days, the inflammation and pain had gone and, seven months on, it hasn’t come back. If it sounds dramatic, it was. I recently saw a consultant who told me he’d seen six patients in three months who were all using it and saying similar things.

That said, there isn’t enough data on CBD at the moment, and I’ve read that there are issues around drug interaction. I think there’s this assumption that because you can buy CBD oil from a health-food store that it must be effective, but I wouldn’t necessarily agree. I wouldn’t give it to my teenage son without information that would support using it for his age group, for example. Even though data isn’t complete at this point, I’ve got more to lose by not taking it, so I do. There are millions of people suffering from hard-to-cure ailments – arthritis, chronic pain – and there aren’t sufficient solutions. For me, the options were two new hips or taking this once a day. It’s a no-brainer.’