The shelf says. The record says.
Every jar tells a story, and the story is usually three words long. Here are fourteen of them, each set beside what the trial record holds on the same question, with the grade our registry gives it attached. A few of the shelf lines survive contact with the record. Most do not, and the interesting cases are the ones that are true off the plant and false in the pipe.
Fourteen lines, with the grade attached.
The left column is what a label or a listing says, as the shelf puts it. The right column is what our registry and pillar pages hold on the same question, graded the way every other page here grades it: a rung on the six-rung ladder for 9 of them, and for the other 5 an off-ladder state, because an empty record and a regulatory fact are not verdicts and must not look like one.
- 01 The shelf says
a typical listing · THCV“Diet weed: the cannabinoid that curbs your appetite.”
The record saysTHCV and appetite
Follow the claim back and it lands on a mouse paper that says the opposite: THCV did not significantly affect food intake or body weight gain in any of its studies (Wargent 2013). Whatever THCV may do to metabolism, the 207-participant Phase 2 built to test it finished in February 2016 and has never been published, and our registry holds no human trial of THCV and appetite in either direction.
- 02 The shelf says
the shelf · CBN“The sleep cannabinoid.”
The record saysCBN and sleep
Tested in people, and both trials that registered a primary endpoint missed it: sleep quality after a week of nightly CBN, and wake after sleep onset measured by polysomnography in a sleep laboratory. Some lower-ranked outcomes moved, and a subjective rating cannot make up for a missed objective primary. Aged cannabis accumulates CBN as THC degrades, which is how the reputation began; whatever in old cannabis causes drowsiness remains unidentified.
- 03 The shelf says
a typical label · CBN“As effective as melatonin.”
The record saysCBN against melatonin
The line comes from the largest CBN trial, paid for by the company whose ingredient it tested, which found no difference between CBN and a melatonin arm. Showing two things are the same takes a non-inferiority margin set in advance, and the study set none; it also names no trial registration, so there is no pre-specified primary endpoint to check it against. What it reports is a failure to find a difference, short of equivalence.
- 04 The shelf says
a typical label · CBG“Wind down with CBG.”
The record saysCBG and sleep
Tested in people, and the evidence does not support it. In a randomised, placebo-controlled trial in veterans, four weeks of CBG did not improve sleep quality more than placebo: the primary endpoint was null, and scores improved in both arms, which is exactly what a placebo control exists to separate. The trial is in intake review and not yet a graded registry entry.
- 05 The shelf says
a typical label · CBG“Everyday calm, without the high.”
The record saysCBG, anxiety and stress
In the only human trial of CBG's effects on anxiety and stress in our registry, a single dose was associated with lower self-reported anxiety and stress in healthy adults, with no intoxication or measurable impairment. One small acute study earns Low and supports no claim of benefit, and the animal work pulls both ways: one study found anxiety unchanged and another saw it rise.
- 06 The shelf says
a typical listing · CBG“Nature's antibiotic: fights MRSA.”
The record saysCBG as an antibacterial
In laboratory tests and in a mouse infection model, CBG showed activity against MRSA, including effects on the bacterial membrane and biofilms. These are preclinical findings only, not tested in humans, and a result in a dish or a mouse may not carry over to people; nothing here is evidence of benefit as an anti-infective.
- 07 The shelf says
a typical listing · CBG“Supports healthy eye pressure.”
The record saysCBG and eye pressure
An intraocular-pressure effect is sometimes attributed to CBG, but the mechanism is unclear and the data are sparse and conflicting. Our registry holds no primary study of CBG and eye pressure in either direction. The record is empty here, which is different from a finding against.
- 08 The shelf says
the shelf · CBD“Won't get you high.”
The record saysCBD and intoxication
Correct, as far as it goes. THC's high comes from activating the CB1 receptor, and CBD does not activate it that way; in laboratory studies it instead reduces how strongly other compounds activate CB1. The caveat sits in the product: full-spectrum CBD contains trace THC.
- 09 The shelf says
a typical listing · THCA“THCA flower: federally legal hemp.”
The record saysTHCA flower and the hemp definition
Under a delta-9-only reading of the US federal hemp definition, flower rich in THCA that stays at or below the 0.3% delta-9 line is hemp, and the category is built on that reading. Many states, testing regimes and enforcement positions count total THC instead, delta-9 plus 0.877 times THCA, and THCA-rich flower usually fails that arithmetic. The same jar can be lawful under one reading and a controlled substance under the other. Not legal advice; verify locally.
- 10 The shelf says
a typical label · THCA“Non-psychoactive.”
The record saysTHCA and intoxication
True off the plant and false in the pipe. Raw THCA is non-intoxicating, and heat from a joint, a vape or an oven strips the carboxyl group off as CO₂ and leaves delta-9-THC, the compound that gets people high. Very little heat is needed to take that step, so smoked THCA flower is functionally THC flower.
- 11 The shelf says
a typical listing · Cannabinoid acids“Raw is better: the acids are the plant's active form.”
The record saysRaw acids against their neutral forms
What is established is the chemistry. The plant makes acids, and gentle heat, roughly 110 to 160 °C, drives off CO₂ and turns each acid into its neutral form; raw THCA is non-intoxicating and decarboxylated THC is not. Whether an acid does more than its neutral form in a person is not a question our registry can grade yet: CBGA's pharmacology is catalogue in progress.
- 12 The shelf says
a typical listing · CBDV“Like CBD, but for seizures.”
The record saysCBDV and seizures
Tested properly, and it finished level with placebo. In a Phase 2 randomised controlled trial of 162 adults with inadequately controlled focal seizures, CBDV missed its primary endpoint, with seizure frequency falling by similar amounts in both arms, and adverse events were substantially more common on CBDV. A completed trial produced that null, which makes it a finding rather than a gap. CBDV is no substitute for prescribed antiseizure medication.
- 13 The shelf says
the shelf · Full-spectrum products“Full-spectrum: the entourage effect makes it work better.”
The record saysFull-spectrum against isolate
A hypothesis. The idea that whole-plant blends may work better together than any single compound is marketed harder than almost anything else in the trade, and controlled human trials showing a blend beating a matched isolate are lacking. Full-spectrum, broad-spectrum and isolate describe composition, not an effectiveness ranking.
- 14 The shelf says
a typical label · CBG + CBD“CBG and CBD: better together.”
The record saysCBG and CBD together
Many broad- and full-spectrum products already contain both, and no controlled human study has shown that the pair does more than either compound alone. In our registry the synergy claim is catalogue in progress, an active research question without a verified result.
Three moves before the claim gets a hearing.
None of the fourteen lines above came with a grade printed beside it. That is the whole trick of the shelf, and it is undone in three moves.
Find the grade
Look the question up here. A rung on the ladder says how far the evidence goes; “no primary evidence” says our registry holds nothing either way, which is not the same as a finding against. How we grade
Check what was measured
A trial can move a secondary rating and miss the outcome it was built to test. The primary endpoint is the one that counts, and a missed primary is a finding rather than a gap. The gap map
Take the label apart
Milligrams per serving, a certificate of analysis for the batch in your hand, and no disease claims. The Label lab lets you take a label apart line by line. Label lab
The blood-pressure note that appears on CBG pages is mechanistic and safety-relevant, not a benefit claim. CBG shows potent α2-adrenoceptor agonism in vitro, and α2 agonists can lower blood pressure — but no study has measured an actual blood-pressure effect of CBG. If you take blood-pressure medication or have a cardiovascular condition, consult a clinician first.
The shelf lines above are third-party marketing claims, reproduced so they can be set beside the record; CBG Atlas does not make, adopt or endorse them, and nothing here is a claim that any product does anything for any disease. If you have experienced a possible adverse effect from a cannabinoid product, use the Report a safety event path. Peregrine Biopharma funds the platform and holds no editorial authority. For a reading order built around your role, see the learning paths.