CBD oil has become a very big deal. The global market was estimated at almost five billion dollars in 2023, and it’s projected to reach five times that level over the next ten years. And that’s not even including the sales of other CBD products like vapes and edibles.
The worldwide interest in CBD (cannabidiol) was sparked by the many preliminary studies showing its wealth of apparent health and wellness benefits. The popularity of CBD oil stems from the fact that the oil can be used in many ways and is more effective than most other forms of cannabidiol products.
Explaining the origins, forms, and potential benefits of CBD oil will require more than a few paragraphs, but here are the highlights:
- CBD is a natural plant compound that’s very similar to psychoactive THC, but they each work very differently inside the body.
- Cannabidiol is extracted from hemp plants, it’s not addictive, and it doesn’t make users high.
- CBD reportedly provides medical benefits for conditions ranging from stress and neurological diseases to pain and perhaps even cancer.
- New users occasionally experience mild side effects like dry mouth and fatigue, but the World Health Organization (WHO) says cannabidiol is generally well-tolerated with a good safety profile.
- CBD oil and other CBD products are legal for sale in the UK, the US, and most other Western nations, but it is not prescribed as a medical treatment with one rare exception.
- CBD oil can be administered sublingually (under the tongue), added to food or beverages, and consumed in capsules, but sublingual administration is the fastest and most effective way to use cannabidiol.
Interested in starting with CBD but aren’t quite sure how to go about it, or simply want to learn more? Here’s a beginner’s guide to CBD oil.
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What Is CBD?
Since this is a beginner’s guide, let’s start at the beginning.
CBD and THC
There are more than 100 natural compounds, known as cannabinoids, found in plants belonging to the Cannabis sativa family. CBD and THC are the two most important cannabinoids, and they’re each contained in cannabis and hemp plants.
Cannabis has high levels of psychoactive THC and low levels of non-intoxicating CBD. It’s the opposite story for hemp, which contains large amounts of CBD and small amounts of THC. For that reason, the cannabidiol used to produce CBD products (like CBD oil) is sourced from hemp, while marijuana is harvested from the cannabis plant.
How CBD and THC Act in the Body
CBD and THC each appear to deliver impressive medical benefits once inside the body, and they have extremely similar chemical structures. The small difference between them, however, explains why THC delivers its mind-altering effects and CBD doesn’t — and why their apparent health and wellness benefits aren’t the same.
To fully understand why the difference matters, you need to learn a little about the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS). It’s responsible for controlling a large number of crucial functions, including thought processing and memory, sleep, appetite, balance, inflammation, and immunity.
The ECS has two components, receptors that send and receive control messages, and neurotransmitters known as endocannabinoids, which carry the messages throughout the body. Importantly, endocannabinoids are very similar to the cannabinoids in hemp and cannabis — and that similarity allows THC and CBD to interact with ECS receptors and affect bodily functions.
Because of their slightly different chemical structures, though, THC and CBD interact with different receptors. THC binds to CB1 receptors, mostly located in the brain and spine, which regulate cognitive functions and others like sleep. CBD interacts with CB2 receptors elsewhere in the body, which regulate immunity and inflammation.
That explains a lot.
THC can deliver its psychoactive effects because it interacts with the receptors that control brain functions. But cannabidiol doesn’t make users high, because it works with receptors elsewhere in the body that don’t have a major impact on thought processing, perception, or other functions that create intoxication.
The difference also explains why the apparent medical benefits of CBD aren’t the same as THC’s.
What are those benefits? Read on.
What Does CBD Do?
We’ve already established what CBD doesn’t do: it doesn’t get you wasted, or even pleasantly tipsy. Most people can’t even tell whether the cannabidiol has taken effect. Users consume CBD because they want to receive the benefits shown by preliminary research studies.
“Preliminary” is the key word in the last paragraph. Regulatory agencies in countries around the world say the preliminary studies don’t provide enough evidence to approve CBD as a medical treatment, except for a few rare types of childhood epilepsy (treated with the cannabidiol prescription medication Epidiolex).
That’s why you’ll see the effects of CBD described as “apparent benefits.” CBD products are legal in the UK and elsewhere, but the medical establishment and governmental authorities don’t allow them to be sold as a treatment for any disease or disorder.
Even so, preliminary research into cannabidiol has shown impressive “apparent” results when used for a large number of medical conditions. Since it’s perfectly legal for people to buy and use CBD products, the research results have driven sales to very high levels.
Among the potential benefits of CBD:
- Reducing pain from inflammatory and anti-immune diseases like arthritis, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, and asthma, and perhaps other types of chronic pain.
- Easing stress, anxiety, depression, and more serious mental health disorders.
- Slowing the progression of neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, and perhaps providing some neurological protection benefits as well.
- Helping those dealing with insomnia and other sleep quality problems.
- Lowering heart health risks like high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
- Reducing seizures in epilepsy patients.
- Easing or preventing outbreaks of acne and other skin diseases.
- Aiding in recovery for those with substance use disorders.
- Possibly helping fight some types of cancer.
That’s just a partial list, but it helps to explain the widespread popularity of CBD products.
What Is CBD Oil, and How Do You Use It?
CBD oil is the most popular CBD product on the market.
What’s In CBD Oil?
The cannabidiol extracted from hemp isn’t ideal for direct consumption. Not only doesn’t it taste good, but it’s not absorbed well by the body; CBD needs assistance for maximum effectiveness. Combining fat-soluble cannabidiol with a so-called “carrier oil” does the job well, and the mixture is known as CBD oil.
MCT oil, coconut oil, or hempseed oil are most often used as carriers. Their chemical structures allow them to quickly speed through the body and deliver cannabidiol into the bloodstream. More importantly, a properly-chosen carrier oil boosts CBD’s absorption, increasing its “bioavailability” and making the maximum amount of cannabidiol available for use.
Other ingredients are added to some brands of CBD oil. The most common is flavouring, since most carrier oils don’t improve the taste of cannabidiol very much. Some companies also add vitamins or health and wellness supplements to their CBD oil, both to deliver additional benefits and to distinguish their products for marketing purposes.
How Do You Use CBD Oil?
A big reason for CBD oil’s popularity is its versatility.
- CBD oil can be dropped under the tongue (a method called sublingual administration).
- CBD oil can be mixed into food.
- CBD oil can be mixed into beverages.
- CBD oil can be used to create homemade edibles like brownies or candy.
- CBD oil can be taken in gelcaps (which are sold in shops or online as CBD capsules).
The preferred administration method, though, is sublingual administration. CBD oil works fastest and is most effective when it’s dropped under the tongue.
Here’s why.
Sublingual membranes quickly absorb CBD oil. It only has to sit under the tongue for about 30 seconds, and it’s then whisked into the bloodstream to be moved through the body for metabolisation and use.
Consuming CBD oil in any other way requires a much longer process. Whatever the oil is contained in must be swallowed, passed through the digestive tract, and digested in the stomach. Only then will the cannabidiol be freed for use.
That can take as long as two hours, depending on the food, beverage, or type of capsule that has to be digested. When compared to the few minutes it takes for sublingually-administered CBD oil to take effect, it’s clear which method works the fastest.
Dropping oil under the tongue provides an even greater benefit. When CBD oil is contained in food, beverages, edibles, or capsules, much of the cannabidiol is lost during the digestive process. The effectiveness of CBD oil is only maximized when it’s used sublingually.
How Much CBD Oil Should You Take?
This is a tricky subject. We’ll first look at CBD doses in general.
CBD Dosing
Most people find it virtually impossible to choose a starting dose of CBD, for quite a few reasons.
- Since CBD isn’t an accepted treatment for any condition other than rare childhood epilepsy, no dosages are “accepted” or “recommended” by medical authorities.
- Cannabidiol works differently in different people. Proper dosages can vary according to the user’s weight and BMI, metabolism, and medical conditions, and the drugs, over-the-counter medications, and supplements they take.
- The “right” dosage may vary depending on whether you’re using CBD oil sublingually or in some other way.
- Research results suggest that effective doses vary widely depending on the medical issue that was being studied.
- Suggested doses printed on CBD oil packages take none of these factors into consideration.
Making things even more difficult, all the available information is inconsistent at best.
Some experts suggest starting with doses of 5 or 10 milligrams of CBD, and the UK government recommends taking no more than 10mg of CBD per day. Yet other experts claim that starting doses of 20 or 25mg make sense, and the minimum amounts of CBD shown by preliminary research to be effective range from 25mg for insomnia to 300mg for anxiety.
Perhaps the best approach is to ask your doctor or another healthcare professional for advice. In addition to suggesting a starting dose, they can also evaluate your existing health and medical situation and tell you whether trying CBD makes sense.
Dosing CBD Oil
We’ve explained the benefits of using CBD oil sublingually, but there’s one big drawback: figuring out how many drops to put under your tongue can be complicated.
As mentioned in the last section, cannabidiol doses are measured in milligrams. However, CBD oil is a liquid, which is measured in milliliters — and the math to convert mg to mL is messy at best, incorrect at worst.
Some bottles of CBD oil are labelled with the amount of cannabidiol in each milliliter of oil. That number (measured as milligrams per milliliter, or mg/mL) definitely helps, but many products don’t provide it. In that case, you have to do that math yourself, dividing the amount of CBD (in mg) in the bottle by the bottle’s volume of liquid (in mL). You end up with the mg/mL number.
And even that might not help if the dropper that comes with the bottle isn’t measured in milliliters. In that case, your best bet is to purchase an inexpensive dropper marked in milliliters. It will save you a lot of headaches.
Don’t let this deter you from trying CBD oil, though. It sounds complicated, but once you’ve figured it out once, you’ll be all set moving forward.
Types of CBD Oil
You’ll be faced with one more decision when buying CBD oil: full-spectrum, broad-spectrum, or CBD isolate?
No worries. This one is fairly easy to understand.
The cannabidiol extracted from hemp contains more than CBD. During the extraction process, the plant’s terpenes and other cannabinoids come along for the ride.
That’s a feature, not a bug. All of those “extra” plant compounds work together, in what’s called an entourage effect, to maximize the CBD’s effectiveness. Since the cannabidiol contains a “full spectrum” of compounds, it’s known as full-spectrum CBD.
Some users may not be able to use full-spectrum cannabidiol, however. One of its components is the small, non-intoxicating amount of THC found in hemp. And that can be problematic for those who are allergic to THC, or those who fear that they might fail a cannabis drug test because there’s THC in their system. (That can happen, but it doesn’t happen often.)
CBD producers give those users two other options:
- Broad-Spectrum CBD — This is full-spectrum cannabidiol with the THC removed. It isn’t quite as effective because there’s less of an entourage effect, and there may still be traces of THC remaining.
- CBD Isolate — This is full-spectrum cannabidiol with all of the other plant compounds removed. There’s no entourage effect possible, so it’s the least effective type of CBD, but it’s pure CBD with zero THC content.
The choice is easy to make. If you can’t consume THC for some reason, buy either broad-spectrum or CBD isolate oil. Otherwise, choose full-spectrum CBD oil to maximize the product’s apparent benefits.
Is CBD Oil Safe to Use?
CBD oil and other CBD products are non-intoxicating. The World Health Organization says they’re generally well-tolerated by users, and have a good safety profile with no evidence that they cause any public health problems. Studies have shown that most humans can tolerate doses as high as 1500mg without experiencing serious side effects.
Does that mean CBD oil is safe to use? All indications say “yes,” but there are a few other things you should know before starting with CBD.
- Side effects associated with CBD are mild and rare. They include dry mouth, tiredness, diarrhoea, and low appetite. Those most likely to experience them are new users whose bodies haven’t developed tolerance for cannabidiol, and those using either extremely high doses or taking high doses every day.
- CBD use may not be indicated for those suffering from liver disease, kidney disease, or a few other medical conditions.
- CBD can have negative interactions with some commonly-used medications and over-the-counter products. They include anti-anxiety meds like Ativan, Xanax, and Valium; cholesterol drugs like Lipitor and Zocor; opioid pain medications; OTC products like Benadryl and Allegra, and some blood pressure, thyroid, corticosteroid, and epilepsy medications.
Those medical conditions and medication lists aren’t all-inclusive, however, so we’ll close with the suggestion we offered earlier in this article. Before starting with CBD oil, check with your doctor to ask if it makes sense for you and how much you should try as a beginning dose. It’s a small step that can make a big difference.