NutraCast: Vertosa CEO Ben Larson on rising growth of infused beverages
THC-infused beverages will account for $1 billion in US sales by 2025 and CBD drinks are expected to hit $2.5 billion, according to Brightfield research.
Vertosa is one company that uses Nanogen technology to create active ingredients for infused product makers. The infused beverage maker’s CEO, Ben Larson, joined the NutraCast to discuss the rising growth in infused beverages and the science behind them.
“People definitely look at cannabis and hemp as the panacea of health solutions,” said Larson. “Going back a little bit and just understanding why there's benefits and every human, every mammal has a complex endocannabinoid system with receptors all over the body. And that is why it's really hard for us to put CBD and other other cannabinoids into any particular bucket, which we love to do, especially in Western culture. Like ‘Oh, that goes into the vice bucket or that goes into pharmaceutical bucket,’ but with cannabis and hemp, maybe it is like a vitamin, where we have this complex receptor system in our bodies and we only think of it as a drug because that’s how humans have classified it over the last century. But if you think of this endocannabinoid system that we have, that is designed to interact with these compounds, why wouldn't we think of it as vitamin C?”
To hear more on the market and what Larson forecasts for 2022, listen to the NutraCast.
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