Taking a natural approach to CBD

Alexander Berg once held the record for the most push-ups per minute, with an impressive 101. He achieved the feat just a few years after a life changing injury left him with chronic back pain. The 35-year-old attributes this achievement to his lifestyle choices and CBD regime.

Berg works as the Business Development executive and subject matter-expert at a CBD products company, Share Natur, and is a passionate advocate for the benefits of the cannabis plant. He had his injury seven years ago at just 28 years old, leaving him debilitated due to the pain.

He tried a number of prescribed medications, but the negative side effects became too much to bear. As pill after pill failed to control his pain, Berg took matters into his own hands, changing his lifestyle in an effort to rebuild his life.

He now lives on a completely plant-based diet and has adapted the way he moves and breathes in order to control the pain.

However, above all else, it is cannabis that has made the biggest impact on his life. He says: “Cannabis is a massive part of my life now. Since my injury, I have experienced a lot of pain and I have been on many different pills that just didn’t work for me; I lost 30kg of weight in eight months when I started on morphine.

“The cannabis plant changed my life because it opened up doors. It made me feel again and it made me passionate.

“I’ve experienced a lot of bad things in my life, but I’ve been able to change that by doing things the right way. I’ve been able to reduce my pain by moving and breathing correctly, eating fruits, getting the right amount of sun and taking CBD and THC. I’ve lowered my pain so much that I can thrive; I’ve never been stronger in my life.”

Share Natur is a Dutch company headquartered in Amsterdam known for using CBD to elevate products in multiple categories, from droppers, capsules and creams to infusing CBD in food and beverages such as water and gummies.

Its products are 100% natural thanks to a number of unconventional processes that aim to bring the company as close to nature as possible. Rather than using traditional methods for extracting CBD from hemp, such as carbon dioxide or alcohol extraction, Share Natur is one of the only companies in Europe to use cold pressed technology.

Compared to conventional hemp oils, cold-pressed products contain a higher volume of the nutrients, natural fats, vitamins and phytocannabinoids from the original hemp plant.

Berg explains: “With CO2 and alcohol extraction methods, companies are using lots of different solvents and emulsifiers. Our cold-pressed solution simply squeezes cannabinoids meaning they remain more in-tact but still gets rid of the acid bindings of the CBD.”

The company says this technique improves bioavailability, which means more CBD is absorbed into the body. A normal CBD oil has an absorption of 3 to 5% of active CBD in your bloodstream within 190 min, but with Share Natur’s range of carriers, which are also cold-pressed, the absorption can be increased dramatically.

Their new bioavailability studies is released start next year. “You are not what you eat,” Berg says. “You are what you absorb, so bioavailability is very important. If you don’t have a very healthy lifestyle or if you are stressed, this tool can help you get in balance quicker than normal.”

In addition to its CBD oil, Share Natur has also developed something called HempCap, a CBD powder derived from hemp. The powder is micro-encapsulated meaning it can be fully dissolved into water without affecting the taste.

Encapsulation involves surrounding small particles with a coating. In the case of HempCap, this coating is from proteins. When the product reaches the stomach, the only thing the body needs to do is break down these proteins to fully release the compounds within the hemp.

According to Share Natur, the result of this process is an effect that is fifty-two times greater than that produced by nonencapsulated CBD products.

Berg says: “The amazing thing about bringing the CBD to your stomach is that CBD will be broken down differently than in your liver. Some of the CBD will convert over to something called THC Delta 8.

“THC Delta 8 is not very psychoactive, as THC Delta 9 is, but it has all the other properties and benefits of Delta 9.

“You can convert the CBD into THC Delta 8 and something called 11-Hydroxy-THC which is very suitable for sick people, specifically those with cancer, because it reaches the cells and penetrates them quicker and brings all the other cannabinoids with it.”

Share Natur is looking for new ways to further enhance the effectiveness of CBD. Playing a key role in this push is the ‘entourage effect’, which was discovered in 1998 by the Israeli cannabis expert, Dr. Raphael Mechoulam.

This theory claims that the many and varied compounds found in the cannabis plant, including CBD, THC, terpenes and flavonoids, work together to produce therapeutic effects. In other words, the combination of cannabinoids has more benefits when consumed together than separately, commonly known as an isolate.

Share Natur has created a range of products called Full Spectrum, which combines the various compounds found within industrial hemp. This includes a tiny amount of THC, which Berg says helps reduce the time it takes for the cannabinoids to reach the cells.

“We are developing new products where the CBD can be read by the body quicker,” Berg says. “We have found that if we don’t change the cannabinoids and if we have the complete solution of the terpenes as well as CBD and other compounds, they will help each other.

“It’s like a symphony orchestra where the CBD is the conductor and the rest of the terpenoids, cannabinoids, flavonoids, terpenes, minerals and fatty acids, are the different instruments. Hence we call these products Full Spectrum, but with our unique processing techniques we also develop Broad Spectrum products fully omitting THC ”

Find out more about Share Natur at sharenatur.com or follow them on Instagram @sharenatur