Your Guide to the Different Forms of CBD
CBD products have skyrocketed in popularity since the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized industrial hemp production across the country. This opened the door for companies to start incorporating cannabidiol, which science folks call CBD, into all sorts of products.
Now when you pop online, you’ll find a ton of different products. Everything from classic CBD tinctures to lavender-scented CBD body lotions are available. And this can sometimes be a little overwhelming!
In this article, we’ll give you a quick rundown on what CBD is and then launch into a cheat sheet guide describing the different forms of CBD available, how to take them and what their benefits are.
A Quick CBD Primer
CBD is what’s known as a cannabinoid. Those are a group of unique molecules that can be found in hemp plants. They’re unique in the way that they can interact with our bodies to produce some health-related benefits.
According to a poll done by Gallup, Americans who’ve used CBD have done so to treat pain, relieve anxiety and combat sleep issues and insomnia, among other reasons.
But as we said, CBD isn’t alone. The other major cannabinoid you might have heard of is THC. That’s the intoxicating one that can make you feel high, give you red eyes and spur on the craving for fatty foods like pizza and everything fried. CBD, on the other hand, is non-intoxicating and doesn’t have any of these adverse effects.
Other cannabinoids exist as well and are being researched for different reasons. You may come across some while trying to pick out the best CBD products for you. They include CBN, or cannabinol, which is generally used for sleep-related solutions and CBG, cannabigerol, the mother cannabinoid, which is great for focus.
When you’re buying CBD products, you may see some different designations in the packaging as well. If it’s full spectrum, that means it will include CBD along with other cannabinoids and beneficial compounds from the hemp plant, including THC (but only 0.3 percent maximum by law). Broad spectrum CBD products will be the same as full, minus the THC. And CBD isolate is just CBD with nothing else.
