The initial CBD ‘green rush’ predominantly involved dozens of brands being launched each day around the world, who all produced CBD oil, vapes and gummies.
However, as people started to see the same products with very little differences on the label, the imagination of brand owners began to spike, as they found new and innovative ways to sneak CBD into more everyday products.
We began to see it in cosmetic items, including serums and moisturisers, we saw it added to tea’s and coffee’s, while we also saw edibles take up multiple forms, including cookies, brownies and flapjacks.
But it’s CBD water that I wanted to deeply dive into, a product type not too commonly found in the UK, but that has caught quite a bit of media attention over the past few years.
What Is CBD Water?
Probably a good place to start! Firstly, CBD stands for cannabidiol and is a cannabinoid found in cannabis.
We extract CBD from industrial hemp to be used in various products, as highlighted above. CBD water is simply water that has been infused with cannabidiol particles.
The concept has proven popular due to the quick and easy method of consumption, being able to drink it on the go, as well as being much more subtle compared to some other methods.
The product might be full spectrum (containing all cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids found in the cannabis plant), broad spectrum (all cannabinoids except for THC) or isolate (meaning it only contains CBD).
How Is It Produced?
Here is one of the key issues, as if you go back to science classes at school, you will remember that fats and water really don’t mix.
This was one of the key stumbling blocks for many CBD brands, however the early range of products simply ignored this and would add CBD oil straight into water, which seemed ridiculous.
However, over the past couple of years, they have started to introduce nanotechnology to tackle this issue.
This involves the fat molecules being structurally altered, while the brands then state these products can be absorbed much faster and more effectively than traditional methods. The issue? So far, I’ve only seen brands state this, I want to see some more actual studies illustrate this point with CBD and water. I’m not stating it isn’t true, just that I want to see more actual human studies to illustrate results and test for any negative implications.
Nanotechnology and CBD has to date been a very controversial subject, with many scientists pushing for caution, as so much is not known about the potential effects and how nanoparticles could potentially spread into other tissues.
An argument that these brands with nanotechnology in place make is that the effects are 10-20 times stronger and absorbed vastly greater, meaning despite the small quantity of CBD present in the water, it should still have strong effects. Again, these claims are made by brands and aren’t yet backed up by clinical studies.
How Much CBD Do You Get?
This is one of the reasons why CBD water has largely proven unpopular to date, as the quantity is relatively low compared to a traditional dosage.
I’ve written a guide on CBD dosage, which might prove useful if you’re new and don’t know how much to take. To offer a basic glimpse, I started off by taking 20mg of CBD oil per day, while over time I moved this up to 40-50mg per day.
In contrast, most of the CBD water products I’ve seen available seem to have around 1-5mg of CBD. So for me to reach my ‘beginner’ amount, I would need to drink several bottles of water.
Not just would this be a bit frustrating, it would also prove much more costly per product / per mg, compared to simply buying CBD oil.
Lack Of Lab Reports
When I review a CBD oil on CBDsloth, I will ask the brand straight off the bat for the lab report. If they don’t have one for the batch I should be reviewing, I refuse to do so.
This is a basic requirement, not just to ensure it has the stated quantity of CBD present in the product, but also to ensure it doesn’t contain any pesticides or heavy metals.
However, one of the reasons you won’t find many CBD drinks reviewed on my website is almost all of them failed to pass my initial tests to be included. They would either have not produced any lab reports (I mean ever…Seriously, ever), they would contain less on the actual lab report than the stated dosage or they have sourced from farms that don’t utilise organic methods in the production of hemp.
Make sure to check the third party lab report (also called a certificate of analysis) to ensure it has the stated CBD dosage present and no other nasties.
Sunlight Exposure
Look at any CBD oil tincture and it will state ‘avoid direct sunlight’. In fact, look at virtually any product and it will state this.
The quality of the cannabidiol will be negatively affected by direct exposure to sunlight, but this could be even more so if the water is contained within a transparent bottle, which seems to be the case for most of the products I’ve seen on the market.
Some have switched to cans, which is a better method, but sadly I can’t say this is true for all of them.
Just on a separate note, oxidation can also have an impact, so once you’ve opened the bottle, be aware that you shouldn’t leave it for a long period of time, to avoid the quality being effected.
Considering how much CBD water can be affected by both sunlight and oxygen, I have found it odd to see it in transparent bottles or in open jars at festivals where they’re trying to promote the product.
How Long Till It Takes Effect?
Let’s first start by presuming you’re using the nanotechnology version, as if it’s simply CBD oil in water then you’ve wasted your money.
The claims made by these CBD brands is that it is absorbed rapidly faster than CBD oil (normally around 45-60 mins), with most of these brands claiming 20 minutes until you ‘see results’.
How Long Will it Last?
The speedy absorbency would certainly be a benefit, however this will also mean the body will use it quicker and it won’t last as long.
With CBD oils, I have found the effect last for me for around 4 hours, depending on the quantity consumed, how recently I ate (or how soon I will be eating) and the product quality. With CBD water, you would presume this would be less, but I couldn’t directly state the exact length.