If you’re new to the world of CBD oil, one of the first things you’re going to notice when you start looking at different products is that there is an incredible level of variance in strength from one product to the next. Some bottles of CBD oil contain just 500 total mg of CBD, and a few have even less than that.
Meanwhile, the strongest CBD oil on the market contains a massive 9,000 mg of CBD per bottle. That’s a huge difference – both in the total amount of CBD in the bottle and in the amount of CBD per dropper of oil.
So, why the difference?
Lower-strength products exist partially because CBD brands can get away with it and partially because that’s the pricing structure those brands established when industrial hemp extract was much harder to come by at a reasonable price.
Since the signing of the 2018 farm bill, though, there now are many more hemp growers and processors in the United States than there were a few years ago. Hemp extract is much less expensive as a result. In 2021, the trend will definitely continue moving in favor of higher CBD oil strengths at lower prices.
Some CBD brands, however, have already begun to make that change and are now offering much stronger CBD oils at the same prices you’d have paid for standard strengths just a year or two ago.
The question, then, is this: What’s the right CBD oil strength for you?
This article will make the case that, if everything else is equal, the best CBD oil strength is the strongest one you can find – regardless of how much CBD you use per individual dose.
Here’s why.
Higher-Strength CBD Oil Has the Best Price Per MG
When you buy a higher-strength CBD oil, the price you pay per mg of CBD can be dramatically lower. Let’s compare some actual prices found online for two different CBD oil products.
- Product 1: 30 ml bottle, 1,500 total mg CBD: $119.99 (7.9 cents per mg of CBD)
- Product 2: 30 ml bottle, 9,000 total mg CBD: $229.99 (2.5 cents per mg of CBD)
The first product has the lower retail price, but it’s also triple the cost per mg of CBD. You could buy the second product and save a bundle of money over the long term – even if you buy that product and dramatically increase your daily CBD intake.
Buying a Stronger CBD Oil Means You’ll Buy Less Often
Buying a stronger CBD oil doesn’t just mean that you’ll pay less for each milligram of CBD that you use. It also means that, unless you decide to increase your daily intake of CBD by more than triple, you won’t need to buy CBD as often as you presently do.
For many people, buying CBD is a tremendous financial sacrifice. They make that sacrifice because they find that CBD alleviates certain conditions or helps them meet their goals for health and wellness. Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if you could enjoy those benefits without it causing such a strain on your wallet? If you buy a higher-strength CBD oil without changing your current dosage, you won’t need to buy CBD nearly as often as you presently do.
The CBD Dose That Works for You May Be Higher Than You Think
The next thing you need to know about CBD oil strength is that, if you’re using a standard-strength CBD oil and taking just a dropper at a time, the amount of CBD that you’re using might not be doing much of anything for you at all.
If you really want to know about the proper CBD dosage for a given purpose, start reading some of the CBD studies that have been published in medical journals. You’re going to find dosages so high that, if you tried to duplicate the methodologies used in those studies, you’d drain a standard-strength bottle of CBD oil in just a few days.
Do you ever find yourself wondering if your CBD regimen is actually doing anything for you at all? It’s possible that you’re not using enough CBD to get the intended result.
You’re Getting Less CBD Than You Think You Are
When you begin reading some of the CBD studies that have been published in medical journals, the fact that the dosages are often quite high isn’t the only thing you’ll notice. You’ll also see that the oral route isn’t the most common way of administering CBD. It’s much more common for researchers to inject CBD directly into the bloodstreams of the test subjects.
Why would that be?
The reason is because direct injection is the only way to get a specific amount of CBD into the bloodstream.
When you take CBD – or any other supplement or drug – orally, the liver metabolizes a portion of the active compound before that compound reaches the bloodstream. That phenomenon is called first-pass metabolism. When you take CBD orally, the amount that actually gets to the bloodstream is significantly less than the amount that you swallow because the liver neutralizes some of the active ingredient. If you’re using an oral CBD product, you need to use a higher dosage to compensate for first-pass metabolism. Taking a higher dosage is much easier when you’re using a stronger CBD oil.
Using a Stronger CBD Oil Means You’re Consuming Fewer Calories
Regardless of the strength of the product, most of what’s in any bottle of CBD oil is carrier oil – not CBD. Some of the most common carrier oils for CBD products include MCT oil, hempseed oil and olive oil.
Raw CBD oil is almost like an essential oil. It isn’t something that you’d want to take in its plain form; it requires a carrier. CBD brands use liquid culinary oils because hemp distillate is oil soluble, and a typical bottle of CBD oil contains around two tablespoons – or about 240 calories – of oil.
If you’re only taking a few droppers of CBD oil per day, the calories that you’re adding to your diet are negligible. After all, a single milliliter of oil is only about eight calories. If you take CBD oil constantly throughout the day, though, those calories can really start to add up. If you’re going to add a teaspoon of oil to your daily diet, would you want to consume it in the form of flavorless MCT oil with your CBD? Wouldn’t you rather eat those calories in a tastier form – like butter on toast?
Buying a stronger CBD oil can greatly reduce the number of empty calories that you consume each day because using a stronger CBD oil means that you’re consuming more CBD and less carrier oil.
