How To Take CBD Gummies — And How To Choose The Right Ones

How do you take CBD gummies? You put them in your mouth and chew. (You can also hold them under your tongue until they dissolve; they’re more effective that way, but most people aren’t that patient.)

How do you choose the right ones? That’s more complicated.

Gummies are just one type of CBD edible, often chosen because their form is so familiar. Gummies aren’t the most popular way to use CBD (that would be CBD oil), but they’re chosen by many users for three big reasons.

• Discreet: This is an obvious plus for users who want to take CBD at work or elsewhere in public.
• Simple: There’s no need to puzzle over CBD vapes, or the eyedroppers used to administer CBD oil. Dosage levels are printed right on the package.
• Delicious: Gummies are available in a wide variety of flavours.

Gummies haven’t become as popular as CBD oil or CBD topicals, though, because the administration method has a number of drawbacks.

• CBD gummies are slower-acting and less effective than CBD oil dropped under the tongue or vaped CBD.
• CBD gummies may contain ingredients that are problematic for vegans or other users.
• CBD gummies contain calories (not many, but they can add up).

There’s also a hidden complication related to the fact that they’re less effective.

There’s no “right dose” of CBD. The substance is too new and unproven for medical authorities to provide dosing recommendations, and CBD appears to work at low doses for some conditions but only at very high doses for others. Every user has to decide on how much to take, ideally in conjunction with their doctor.

But since the administration method is inefficient, gummies promising to provide a specific dose of CBD really don’t. A 25mg gummy doesn’t deliver anything close to 25mg of CBD, and there’s no way to know how much it will provide.

That means the best approach is to start with a low dosage (5-10mg) and increase slowly if it doesn’t “work.” In short, finding the right dose of CBD gummies requires trial and error.

Need more help deciding? Read on.

What Are CBD Gummies?

“CBD gummies are gummies infused with CBD” doesn’t shed much light on the issue. Let’s go a little more in-depth.

What Is CBD?

CBD is short for cannabidiol, one of the plant compounds known as cannabinoids and found in both hemp and cannabis plants. It’s very similar to THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the other major cannabinoid, but a slight difference in their chemical structures creates a huge difference in their properties. THC is psychoactive and makes users high; CBD is non-intoxicating.

Cannabidiol is extracted from hemp plants because they contain high levels of CBD and extremely low levels of THC. (Cannabis contains very little CBD, but it’s loaded with the THC that delivers marijuana’s trademark effects.)

Preliminary studies show that cannabidiol appears to provide a wealth of medical benefits, although the evidence isn’t conclusive enough for CBD to be approved by governments as a prescription treatment (except for rare cases of childhood epilepsy). Instead, it’s used as the active ingredient in the CBD products approved for sale as supplements in the late 2010s.

Once inside the body, cannabidiol delivers its apparent benefits by interacting with a network of receptors in what’s known as the endocannabinoid system (ECS). That’s made possible by CBD’s structural similarity to the neurotransmitters that shuttle messages between receptors and to the rest of the body. Not surprisingly, those messengers are called endocannabinoids.

The ECS has two sets of receptors. Those labeled “CB1” control a large number of crucial functions including thought, memory, pain, and sleep, and THC binds to them once it’s in the body. CBD interacts mostly with a group of receptors labelled “CB2,” which govern activities like immunity and inflammation, sending its own control messages or altering ones already sent.

CBD can be taken in several forms. CBD oil is dropped under the tongue or added to food (or beverages), CBD capsules are swallowed, CBD edibles (or drinks) are eaten (or drunk), CBD topical products are applied to the skin, and CBD vapes are — you guessed it — vaped. Gummies are the most popular form of CBD edibles.

What Are Gummies?

These yummy, fruit-flavored candies require little explanation for most readers. Gummy candies have been around for more than 100 years and have been ubiquitous since the 1980s. In recent years, they’ve commonly been used to deliver vitamins, healthcare supplements, and even marijuana extracts.

Most CBD gummies are made by infusing gummy candies with CBD oil. A relatively small number of manufacturers coat gummies with CBD instead, but that’s a much less effective method; the CBD content is generally inconsistent and the cannabidiol degenerates quickly.

What’s in the gummies other than CBD oil? Mostly edible gelatin, a protein produced from animal collagen that makes the candies chewy. (Vegan/vegetarians can find vegan-safe gummies that contain ingredients like pectin or agar-agar instead.)

Other ingredients commonly added to gummies are flavourings, colouring agents, and sugar (after all, these are candies). Most high-end CBD producers use natural ingredients, but it’s always best to double-check. Some companies also add other health and wellness supplements to their CBD gummies. Finally, the candies are coated with oil or natural wax to protect them.

CBD gummies are categorized and sold by the amount of CBD they’ve been infused with; package labels will clearly identify dosages like 10mg, 25mg, or 50 mg. As we’ll explain, though, that doesn’t mean you’ll be consuming 10, 25, or 50 milligrams of cannabidiol.

How To Take CBD Gummies

Most people enjoy CBD gummies the same way they enjoy any other type of gummy candy: they chew it and perhaps swallow the small amount that’s left once all the flavor is gone. There’s nothing wrong with doing it that way, but it doesn’t provide the cannabidiol’s maximum benefits. Here’s why.

Anything that enters a user’s gastrointestinal tract — which is what happens when CBD gummies are chewed or swallowed — must be digested in the stomach. That process takes somewhere around half an hour for gummies (the time varies from person to person), and while it’s underway, stomach acid and enzymes are destroying some of the CBD.

That leaves only a portion of the dosage promised by the manufacturer, which is eventually absorbed by tissues in the small intestine, sent through the bloodstream to the liver for metabolisation, and finally freed to interact with ECS receptors.

There’s a smarter way to take CBD gummies, although it can be annoying. If you just hold the gummy under your tongue until it fully dissolves, the CBD oil contained in the candy will be absorbed by the sublingual tissues under the tongue and quickly moved into the bloodstream for the trip to the liver and then the ECS.

Not only does this alternative way of using gummies allow cannabidiol to take effect more quickly, but much less of it will be lost because it doesn’t have to undergo digestion. It’s the same way that CBD oil dropped under the tongue — one of the best methods of CBD administration — provides its benefits.

Choosing a CBD Gummy Dosage

As we’ve already mentioned, the dose promised by the label on a package of CBD gummies isn’t going to be the amount of cannabidiol that makes it all the way to the ECS receptors in your body. That’s not the only thing that makes choosing a dosage difficult, though.

Several factors play a role in how much CBD a user should take.

• Cannabidiol’s effects in the body vary depending on a user’s weight and BMI, metabolism, preexisting medical condition, and any medications they may be taking.
• CBD is absorbed more rapidly by the body when a user has just eaten a high-fat meal (because cannabidiol is fat-soluble), and much more slowly if it’s taken on an empty stomach.
• Most importantly, there’s no “standard dose” of CBD. Since governments and the medical establishment haven’t accepted cannabidiol as a prescription treatment, they don’t recommend dosages. Even more confusing are the results of preliminary studies that have shown, for example, that doses of 25 milligrams may work for insomnia, but 300mg or more may be needed to ease pain.

That’s all interesting, but what do you do when you’re trying to order CBD gummies and looking at choices ranging from 5 milligrams to 100 milligrams?

The best approach is to speak with your doctor or another healthcare professional who’s familiar with CBD and its effects. They can evaluate your physical condition and the reasons you want to use CBD gummies, and then suggest a starting dose. (Be sure to remind them that a 25mg gummy won’t deliver a full 25mg of CBD, too.)

If that’s not an option, most experts say it makes sense to start with a low starting dose, perhaps a 5mg or 10mg gummy, and then increase the dosage if you see no results after a few weeks. The best advice for any substance holds true for CBD gummies as well: start low and increase slow. (It’s not grammatically correct advice, but it’s still smart.)

How to Maximize the Benefits of CBD Gummies

Whatever dose you choose, there are three things you can do to ensure that you’re receiving the greatest possible benefits from your CBD gummies.

1. As referenced in the last section, have a high-fat meal (or at least a fatty snack) before taking CBD.
2. As we’ve mentioned several times in this article, use your CBD gummies sublingually (letting them dissolve under the tongue) instead of chewing them.
3. Opt for full-spectrum CBD gummies, which contain all of hemp’s important plant compounds (including its small amount of THC). The compounds work together in an “entourage effect” to maximize the cannabidiol’s effectiveness. Broad-spectrum and CBD isolate gummies contain virtually no THC or no other plant compounds, respectively. They’re a good choice for those who can’t or don’t want to consume even a small amount of THC, but they don’t deliver CBD’s maximum benefits.

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