CBD is a popular wellness product in the U.S., and worldwide that’s not showing signs of losing steam. Researchers project it will reach $5.3 billion in retail sales this year and grow to $16 billion by 2026. As more people use the plant extract to improve muscle recovery, reduce stress, and sleep better, bioavailability is a growing factor when choosing the right delivery method. Whether your brand needs white labels for oils, edibles, or topical CBD products, how much each one delivers per dose is an essential part of your business. Continue reading to learn more about bioavailability and how it relates to your brand.
What is CBD Bioavailability?
Bioavailability refers to how much CBD absorbs into your bloodstream after ingesting, smoking, vaping, or applying it topically. It’s never a 1:1 ratio and varies by product type. Phytocannabinoids are lipophilic molecules that don’t dissolve in water. When you realize that 60% of the human body is liquid, which doesn’t mix with oil-based substances like hemp oil, you see the problem. While manufacturers are developing the most efficient delivery method, it’s essential to know which option is best for your customers.
With the help of nanotechnology, new methods have been developed to improve absorption and bioavailability in oils, edibles, capsules. CBD has been shown to absorb better when broken down into tiny pieces by ultrasonic waves before being put inside products like oils or pills with nanoemulsions. These items are more expensive because they use this technology that not everyone can afford. Nonetheless, users are reporting more significant benefits from their investment.
With CBD products becoming more and more popular, finding the right product for you can be challenging. At the same time, there are dozens of options out there. Understanding which one best suits your needs requires time spent researching what each type offers in terms of effects or length.
The Bioavailability of Different CBD Delivery Methods
CBD products can be a little confusing because there are so many brands and products. With different strains, dosages, and potencies available, it’s not always easy to decide which one is best for you. Then the following few challenges come—How do I take this? How much should I use? When should I take it? All these questions and answers are a part of bioavailability and determine how well CBD works for you.
Below is a breakdown of the different methods for using CBD. Learn how to make the best choices to improve sales with our white label hemp products.
Sublingual
The oldest method for using CBD is a sublingual tincture. The word ‘sublingual’ means under the tongue. A few drops absorb directly into the bloodstream through the mouth’s membranes. Not only does this method offer between 20% and 30% bioavailability, but it also works much faster than oral options. It’s clear that the most essential CBD product to line your shelves with is the sublingual oil. Choose private label supplements from Canngoods to offer your customers high-quality tinctures for the most effective dosing. The tincture has an onset of fewer than 30 minutes.
Oral
Oral methods vary from adding a few drops of the tincture to foods or drinks and softgels to edibles, such as gummies, honey sticks, and lozenges. These must go through the digestion process first, which is where consumers lose most of their dose.
Edibles have a bioavailability of 13% to 19%. Additionally, these take much longer to work than the sublingual method. Oral CBD has an onset of 30 to 90 minutes, depending on how fast their digestive system works. Both sublingual and oral CBD doses have the same duration—Four to six hours.
Smoking and Vaping
The most effective delivery method for CBD is inhalation, which is smoking or vaping flowers or concentrates. An estimated 31% of cannabinoids break the blood barrier. However, that’s only a 1% difference and the study doesn’t offer a margin of error. Although vaping might be safer than smoking and both offer a 1% advantage, you are still letting something other than air directly into your lungs, which could be detrimental to your health. It’s therefore not the best overall method for using CBD.
Topical and Transdermal Patches
Topical and transdermal products are growing in popularity. Items such as balms, lotions, creams, and even beauty goods are infused with a full-spectrum, broad-spectrum, or CBD isolate to meet specific needs. Many people are choosing topicals for muscle recovery, skin-conditioning, exfoliating, and reducing acne.
How well topicals work is still up for debate. Studies have shown anything that doesn’t break the skin-blood barrier won’t provide results. However, millions of buyers over the past few years can’t be wrong about the benefits of topicals. Additionally, research also confirms the advantages for skin, boosting the reliability of consumer’s testimonials.
Transdermal CBD patches provide a slow release of hemp compounds over several hours. They are developed to break the skin-blood barrier, and people apply them directly for localized relief. These are similar to nicotine patches people use to quit smoking, except they deliver a non-addicting, 100% natural hemp extract.
The effectiveness of transdermal patches has more documentation than topicals for muscle and joint soreness. For example, in a 2018 study in Molecules, a scientific journal, the researchers explain,
“Transdermal administration delivers drugs through the skin via patches or other delivery systems. Although comparable to oral dosage forms in terms of efficacy, transdermal patches provide numerous advantages. Transdermal administration avoids the first-pass metabolism effect that is associated with the oral route and thus improves drug bioavailability.”
To better understand this statement, the study’s author says localized delivery avoids the problems consumers experience with oral products to provide a better experience.
Similar methods to transdermal that researchers are exploring include oromucosal (absorbs through the sides of the mouth) and rectal (suppositories.)
What is the Best Method to Choose?
First, there are no legal options to get 100% bioavailability. The only delivery method that offers that kind of effectiveness is intravenous. It’s not possible and would never be something you can purchase at a store. However, the potential is there for the future.
While the largest percentage % for bioavailability may be Inhalation, If we consider all safety and precaution aspects, sublingual stands out as the best option. Sublingual drops absorb through the membranes under the tongue and reduce the risk of any potentially harmful elements entering the lungs.
Canngoods offers private label and white label products to meet your brand’s needs. Whether you have a small, exclusive line or provide a wide range of items to line your storefront, we have the formulas that will increase your sales and keep new customers coming back for premium hemp extracts. Additionally, we offer custom formulations with the same high-quality ingredients we use in our standard tinctures and topical CBD wellness products.
