CYP2C9 Inhibition
CYP2C9 is an enzyme found mainly in your liver. It can metabolize THC and 11-OH-THC, but a key point is that it only forms certain metabolites (2005 study, 2007 study). Specifically, it forms metabolites in the pathway leading to excretion into your urine. In fact, it catalyzes not one, but two of these steps. Having lower CYP2C9 activity is beneficial for THC detox, but with one caveat that I’ll get to in a moment.
CYP2C9 has several known inhibitors, but they have never been tested in a clinical study of THC metabolism. However, a 2009 study examined people with a variant of the enzyme (called *3) which metabolizes drugs (including THC) 2/3 slower (2005 study). Having one copy of this variant is the equivalent of inhibiting CYP2C9 by 1/3, which is similar to the inhibition by our THC Metabolism Optimizer (1 Week Detox) supplement.
People with one copy of *3 had THC elimination slowed by about 1/3 (as expected). 11-OH-THC levels were similar since it is both formed and eliminated by CYP2C9, which cancels out. Levels of THC-COOH metabolite were about 1/3 lower.
So the caveat is that inhibiting CYP2C9 will help you reduce urine THC metabolites, but at the expense of slowing overall THC elimination (at least without taking any further steps to compensate, such as inducing alternate metabolic pathways).
FAQ
Inhibiting CYP2C9 can cause interactions with other drugs or herbal supplements that are metabolized by this enzyme. It may increase the levels of these drugs, which can increase the risk of side effects.
Therefore, anyone taking other drugs should consult with their physician and/or pharmacist before taking CYP2C9 inhibitors.
It depends on how much CYP2C9 is inhibited.
The THC Metabolism Optimizer (1 Week Detox) product is predicted to inhibit CYP2C9 by about 1/3. Therefore, THC-COOH metabolite levels will be reduced by 1/3 and urine metabolite levels will be reduced by 1/3.
It will help the majority of people, but everyone responds differently depending on their genetics.
Some people have CYP2C9 variants that already have little activity which do not respond as much to inhibitors.
The inhibition is virtually instantaneous upon absorption of a CYP2C9 inhibitor.
However, it will still take several days for levels of the downstream metabolites to wash out.
Once you stop taking a CYP2C9 inhibitor, the effects will not last very long. As the inhibitor washes out, CYP2C9 activity will no longer be reduced.
Over the next 2 days, levels of downstream metabolites are likely to increase. If you start taking a CYP2C9 inhibitor, you should take it until the time that you would like to be maximally detoxed.