Placebo-Controlled Human Study Finds CBG Improves EEG Measures of Mood and Mental Clarity
- A placebo-controlled, double-blind study with 18 healthy adults found that a 25 mg dose of cannabigerol (CBG) produced measurable EEG changes linked to improved mood, reduced sadness, and greater mental clarity, even during induced stress.
- CBG significantly increased positive emotional valence and reduced sadness and mental confusion compared to placebo, with effects starting around 13-15 minutes and lasting up to 90 minutes post-consumption.
- EEG-based measures detected these benefits, while standard self-reported mood questionnaires showed no significant differences between CBG and placebo, indicating subconscious neural effects rather than conscious mood changes.
- The study was limited by its small sample size, gender imbalance, and use of a single dose over a short duration, but adds to emerging research on CBG’s non-intoxicating potential to improve mood, stress response, and cognition.
A placebo-controlled human study found that cannabigerol (CBG) produced measurable changes in brain activity associated with a more positive mood, reduced sadness and greater mental clarity, including during experimentally induced stress.
The study, conducted by independent neurotechnology lab Zentrela, involved 18 healthy adults ages 22 to 66. Researchers used a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design, meaning each participant received both a 25 mg White CBG tablet from Emerald Bay Extracts and a matched placebo during separate sessions.
Participants underwent repeated electroencephalography (EEG) measurements over two hours using an eight-channel system. The recordings were analyzed using Zentrela’s Cognalyzer platform, which applies machine-learning models to EEG signals to generate measures of mental states including emotional valence, sadness and confusion.
Researchers found statistically significant differences between CBG and placebo across all three measures.
For emotional valence, an EEG-derived measure of positive versus negative mood, significant differences favoring CBG were recorded at multiple points during the experiment. The CBG condition reached a peak increase of 3.86 points from baseline on the study’s -10 to +10 scale, with detectable changes beginning roughly 13 to 15 minutes after consumption.
The most sustained difference involved sadness. EEG measurements indicated significantly lower sadness during much of the second half of the study, with a peak reduction of 4.86 points at 75 minutes.
CBG also reduced EEG-derived measures of mental confusion between approximately 75 and 90 minutes. The effect overlapped with a stress portion of the experiment in which participants listened to anxiety-inducing audio and completed a cold-pressor test by placing a hand in ice water. The largest reduction in confusion was 2.83 points at 90 minutes.
However, participants’ responses on a standard self-reported mood questionnaire did not differ significantly between CBG and placebo. The findings therefore reflect differences detected through the EEG-based analysis rather than participants reporting that they consciously felt happier or less sad.
The researchers also cautioned that the study was small, included only 18 participants, was skewed toward men and examined a single 25 mg dose over a two-hour period.
The findings add to a growing body of human research examining CBG, a non-intoxicating cannabinoid found in marijuana and hemp plants, and its potential effects on mood, stress and cognition.