CBD increased treadmill running performance in mice by altering gut microbiome composition, with antibiotic treatment reversing the benefit and a specific bacterium replicating it.
Sports scientists, microbiome researchers, CBD researchers
Antibiotics abolished CBD's endurance benefit, proving the gut microbiome was required
What the researchers found
CBD increased running endurance, oxidative muscle fibers, and mitochondrial biogenesis; these effects depended on gut microbiome (abolished by antibiotics); CBD-enriched Bifidobacterium animalis alone improved running performance.
Why it matters
This is the first evidence that CBD's effects on physical performance may work through the gut microbiome rather than direct muscle or brain effects.
The numbers in context
CBD significantly increased treadmill running; antibiotic treatment reduced the endurance benefit; B. animalis KBP-1 isolate independently improved running; PGC-1a, phosphorylated CREB, and AMPK upregulated in muscle.
How the study worked
Mice received CBD and were tested on treadmill running; muscle tissue analyzed for fiber composition and mitochondrial markers; gut microbiome profiled; antibiotics used to test microbiome dependency; isolated B. animalis administered separately.
What this study cannot tell us
Mouse model; single CBD dose tested; antibiotic approach affects entire microbiome; unclear if similar gut changes occur in humans.
How to read the evidence
Novel mechanistic animal study with antibiotic and single-species validation, but mouse exercise models have limited human translatability.
When this study was published
Published 2025
The bigger picture
If CBD improves exercise capacity through gut bacteria, this opens new avenues for sports performance research and probiotic interventions.
Questions still open
- Would CBD improve exercise performance in humans through the same gut-muscle axis? What CBD doses are needed? Do recreational cannabis users show similar gut microbiome shifts?
Common questions
Does CBD improve exercise performance?
Which gut bacterium was responsible?
Read the original research
Cannabidiol reshapes the gut microbiome to promote endurance exercise in mice.
Experimental & molecular medicine, 57(2), 489-500
Citation
Chen, Si; Lee, Yu-Bin; Song, Mi-Young; Lim, Changjin; Cho, Hwangeui; Shim, Hyun Joo; Kim, Jong-Suk; Park, Byung-Hyun; Kim, Jeon-Kyung; Bae, Eun Ju. (2025). Cannabidiol reshapes the gut microbiome to promote endurance exercise in mice.. Experimental & molecular medicine, 57(2), 489-500. https://doi.org/10.1038/s12276-025-01404-5
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