“When you mix all those phytocannabinoids together—and not just the phytocannabinoids but their supportive compounds and antioxidants that are in the [hemp plant] stalk—it’s a whole mix,” renowned integrative physician Robert Rountree, M.D., says of the potential of full-spectrum hemp oils. “There’s this whole system at work.” These complementary ingredients have lots of healthy properties, but one of the most important ones is their ability to act as antioxidants.* If we rewind to high school chemistry for a second, antioxidants are well-known beneficial chemicals that help counter the effects of free radical production in the body. Some free radical production is a normal part of life, but things like aging, chronic stress, exposure to toxins, and tobacco or alcohol can cause us to produce too many free radicals and lead to cellular damage. Antioxidants help neutralize free radicals and protect your health (and the health and elasticity of your skin1) in the long term. Cannabinoids in hemp oil like CBD have demonstrated strong antioxidant properties2, so it makes sense that they could help promote skin health and texture.* In fact, though we still have a lot more to learn about the ECS, it seems to affect most of the body’s processes in some way: “There is not a human experience the ECS does not affect,” Jessica Knox, M.D., MPH, co-founder of the American Cannabinoid Clinics and a preventive medicine physician, tells mbg. “From fertility and conception to moderating pain, mood, mental health, learning, sleep, and appetite as we grow and mature, to modulating brain health as we age.”
