The A1C Challenge

This book makes a claim: that the endocannabinoid system has dietary requirements, and that hemp seed and raw cannabis — eaten as food — help meet them. A claim is only worth as much as its willingness to be tested. The A1C Challenge is that test, and you are invited to be part of it.

It is a simple study. For twenty-eight days, participants add hemp seed and raw, unheated cannabis to what they already eat and record a standard, widely available measure of how the body manages blood sugar over time: A1C, alongside fasting glucose. The study observes; it does not prescribe. It asks one honest question — when these foods go in, does that marker move? — and watches what happens.

Three commitments hold it to the standard of science rather than testimony. It was pre-registered before the first person enrolled, so the question and the method are on the public record and cannot be quietly changed to fit the result (registered at OSF DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/R4UFG). It is anonymous by design — no name attached to your data, the full dataset released openly for anyone to examine. And it carries the commitment that matters most when it is inconvenient: the result will be reported whatever it is, including no effect at all. A study that can only confirm is not a study.

A single-arm observation like this can surface a signal, not prove a cause. That is the honest limit, and it is the first layer of a larger design built to test what it finds. You don't need to be a patient or a scientist to take part — only a glucose reading and twenty-eight days. And if you would rather watch than join, the open data will be there to read.

Learn the science, see the results so far, or take part by visiting a1c-challenge.org

“You are not alone. There are others like you. Seek them out. They are looking for you too.”
— Charles Gillispie