The world is slowly and gradually familiarizing themselves with CBD, also known as Cannabidiol. This compound comes from the Cannabis plant and has a variety of different uses. Here is all your need to know about CBD and how it is processed!
The Ever-Evolving Cannabis Industry
The CBD industry has evolved rapidly during the past year or so. This has made the product a lot more common amongst people, with more and more people incorporating CBD in their daily diets.
This also raises the question of how CBD is processed safely for consumers to use in the end. What measures are taken to ensure high standards of hygiene and control?
Knowing how companies process the hemp plant into useable food or dietary supplement ingredients helps users make informed decisions regarding their CBD brand choice and improve general awareness amongst the consumers.
To judge the purity of CBD ingredients and formulas, it is first essential to know the origin of the plant itself.
The Cannabis plant can be organically grown without the help of pesticides and insecticides. It is known to contribute towards sustainable growing practices as it does not imbalance the soil nutrient levels.
This means this plant itself is free from the general additives and preservatives you might find in other plants that require delicate growing conditions. would otherwise find in their by products like CBD oil and vape.
The Different Forms of CBD
First and foremost, it is imperative to know that CBD products come in multiple shapes and forms. It can be inhaled, ingested, and even applied topically. CBD products are made for vaping, CBD oils for ingesting, and CBD topical ointments and creams to apply on your skin.
Each method has a specific time to work and stay in your body, referring to their changing bioavailability. The easiest way is to inhale the product, as it immediately absorbs into your bloodstream.
However, one of the most popular ways people get their daily CBD does is through CBD oils. These Oils are made for ingestion, as well as applying it topically.
How Is CBD Made?
To understand whether CBD is safely processed, it is important to know the process of making the concoction.
Most producers follow this 3-step method, which includes extraction, winterization, and distillation. Although there are many other extraction methods.
1. Extraction
While there are several ways to extract the CBD essence from the Cannabis plant, one of the most popular ones involves using carbon dioxide. It is used as a solvent to extract the raw form of the CBD oil.
The CO2 solvent is considered a pure form of the extract, as once it is extracted, it leaves no residue behind.
2. Winterization
Once the extraction is done, the 2nd most important step in the chain is a process known as winterization. The name might sound fancy, but it means to remove the fats and waxes in the crude oil that do not contain cannabinoids and make the CBD oil easier to incorporate into products.
The name winterization comes from the process to separate the lipids and fats in the extracted oil. The crude oil is mixed with ethanol, put into a freezer overnight. The alcohol keeps the CBD-hemp oil in a liquid form at the cold temperatures while the fats and waxes fall out of solution forming a solid waxy layer at the bottom of the vessel.
However, at this stage, the solution is cloudy and needs additional distillation to make it crystal clear. Usually, a paper filter, similar to a coffee paper filter, is used to filter out any debris and different materials through a Buchner funnel.
Then the lab removes alcohol from the entire formula to make it purely into CBD oil extract. The solution is then again warmed up, which evaporates the alcohol much before it reacts with the oil.
3. Distillation
This brings us to the last step, which is to refine the hemp oil through distillation further. The extract is heated and reheated to separate the different compounds slowly. This process takes advantage of different boiling points of compounds in the hemp extract to remove undesirable components leaving behind a crystal-clear distillate that looks like high-grade honey.
CBD distillate is usually mixed in with a carrier oil like hemp seed oil or coconut oil to reach the desired potency and make it the ideal formula for everyday use.
Is CBD Safe for Consumption?
Most labs and producers need proper approval for processing and manufacturing hemp CBD products and must label all the contents by law.
However, regardless of all the regulations, a person must go and visit their local physician and know more regarding CBD and how it might react to their bodies.
Some of the common side effects include dizziness, diarrhea, and fatigue. It is essential to keep a check on how it might manifest within the body and whether you should continue it.
However, all standards, safety checks, purity, and testing is maintained in the labs, CBD extracts, oils, and tinctures are made.
