The first large-scale clinical trial of a cannabis derivative known as cannabidiol shows it was able to cut the frequency of severe epileptic seizures by 39%, say researchers.

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is derived from cannabis plants, but does not cause users to get high. The study in the New England Journal of Medicine comes after years of anecdotal evidence of cannabidiol’s effects. It focused on young patients with Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy.

“Cannabidiol should not be viewed as a panacea for epilepsy, but for patients with especially severe forms who have not responded to numerous medications, these results provide hope that we may soon have another treatment option,” said lead investigator Orrin Devinsky, professor of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry at New York University Langone Medical Centre.

Researchers used an experimental liquid form of CBD, which has not been approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration. “We still need more research, but this new trial provides more evidence than we have ever had of cannabidiol’s effectiveness as a medication for treatment-resistant epilepsy.”

A total of 120 children and adolescents, aged two to 18, with Dravet Syndrome were randomised to receive either a placebo or CBD, in addition to their usual treatment. The trial took place at 23 sites in the United States and Europe over the course of 14 weeks. “Seizure frequency dropped in the CBD treated group by 39% from a median of nearly 12 convulsive seizures per month before the study to about six,” said the study. “Three patients’ seizures stopped entirely.”

The placebo group saw a much smaller 13% reduction in seizures. Most patients reported side effects, most commonly vomiting, fatigue and fever. A total of 93.4% of patients in the CBD group and 74.6% of those treated with placebo experienced side effects, which were generally reported as mild or moderate.

But eight patients in the CBD group withdrew from the trial because of side effects, compared to one participant in the placebo group.

Chocolate can lower risks of ‘heart flutter’

Chocoholics take note: new research shows that eating chocolates can lower risks of developing irregular heartbeats, a condition that affects over 33 million people worldwide. Previous research has linked eating chocolates, especially dark chocolate, to improvements in heart health.

Scientists, including those from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in the US, wanted to see if it may be linked to lower rate of atrial fibrillation, also known as heart flutter. It is not clear exactly what causes the condition, and there is currently no cure or contenders for its prevention.

The associations seemed to be strongest for 1 weekly serving for women and between 2 and 6 weekly servings for men, according to the research published in the journal Heart.Researchers collected data from 55,502 (26,400 men and 29,100 women) participants, aged between 50 and 64. Participants provided information on their usual weekly chocolate consumption, with one serving classified as 30 grammes.Information on heart disease risk factors, diet, and lifestyle was obtained when the participants were recruited to the study.Their health was then tracked using episodes of hospital treatment and deaths.

During the monitoring period, which averaged 13.5 years, 3,346 new cases of a trial fibrillation were diagnosed. After accounting for other factors related to heart disease, the newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation rate was 10% lower for 1-3 servings of chocolate a month than it was for less than 1 serving a month.