One of the words that is associated with CBD is bio-availability. Bio-availability is the rate and degree at which a substance is absorbed into the bloodstream. With CBD, the higher the bio-availability, the more effective the cannabinoid becomes. This is because a greater amount of cannabinoid impacts your system when it reaches your bloodstream.
Taking CBD Without Food
The main issue with many different forms of CBD consumption is that the human digestive system absorbs it before it completes its journey to the bloodstream. A popular way to use CBD is by oral consumption. This involves consuming CBD with drinks, capsules, and edibles.
The issue with this method is that any substance that is orally consumed has to pass through the digestive and metabolic systems, this filters out most of the cannabidiol.
Sublingual consumption is another form of CBD consumption that involves the use of tinctures and oils. You hold the tincture beneath the tongue so that it is administered to your sublingual gland. As a result, it is directly absorbed into the bloodstream. It is important that the quality of CBD oil that is used is of high quality and free of harmful chemicals or pesticides.
CBD oil products like pure CBD oils, tinctures, and liquids can be held under the tongue to allow the CBD to be absorbed through the mucous membranes. This allows the CBD to bypass the digestive system altogether in its journey to the bloodstream.
Once the CBD oil is swallowed after sublingual administration, some of the absorption process will still take place along the digestive tract. Although this is a great way to get CBD into the bloodstream, the bio-availability of the cannabinoids can be four times higher when taken after a meal.
Some CBD merchants use nanotechnology in their products. In this particular process, Nano-sized CBD molecules are infused in different products. This allows for easier absorption. If the oil is absorbed in 30 minutes, with nanotechnology it will absorb in 20 minutes.
The different forms of CBD consumption and assigned bio-availability rates determine the prices of products. The concept of bio-availability is pretty simple. For example, let’s say that an edible has a bio-availability rate of 10%, you would need 100 mg to get 10 mg of useful CBD.
Taking CBD with Food
Eating also has positive effects on CBD bio-availability, and in fact does impact bio-availability rates. When you use CBD orally, the active ingredients are absorbed via digestion instead of by the mucous membranes in the mouth.
The main reason why oral CBD has such a low bio-availability rate is because of “first pass metabolism”. The first pass metabolism breaks down the CBD even more, and then it creates over 100 metabolites.
The vast majority of these metabolites are not useful and are then excreted. This means that the bio-availability of CBD takes a plunge.
However, there are different types of food which prevent cannabidiol from running the “first pass” metabolism, which in turn improves bio-availability. When a cannabinoid product is absorbed sublingually and then in the digestive tract after being consumed, the bio-availability is four times higher when it is taken after a meal, rather than being swallowed on an empty stomach.
Foods containing fatty acids and medium or long chain triglycerides are your best option of foods to consume with CBD oil.
This is the reason why so many CBD sellers include MCT oil in their CBD oil tinctures. Fatty acids act as potent binding agents, and they are then metabolized into pure energy by the liver.
As a result, the CBD you consume does not go through the first pass metabolism process. The human body burns these fats and uses them along with the cannabidiol immediately.
If you decide to take CBD oil with food, the best foods you can consume it with are olives, sesame oil, oily fish, soybeans, eggs, meat, and avocados. For athletes or people who live an active lifestyle, and anyone else taking CBD, bio-availability is very important.
Bio-availability It is when CBD reaches the bloodstream and it can begin to interact with receptors of the body’s endocannabinoid system. Then this interaction encourages peak performance and balance.
When you swallow any supplement, the supplements active ingredients are then absorbed through the digestive system.
In the case of CBD supplements, the compounds are initially broken down in the stomach before being absorbed by the small intestine and then sent through the portal vein directly to the liver. It is in the liver that certain foods can become beneficial to the absorption rate of CBD.
In the liver, a group of enzymes called cytochrome P450 or (CYP450) act on CBD, by metabolizing the cannabinoids before they are distributed through your circulatory system.
The Bottom Line
Any food considerations related to your CBD routine are only important when you swallow to ingest the CBD supplement. The bio-availability benefits of taking CBD with MCT oil and other fats come into play when the CBD compounds are absorbed through the digestive system. This means that food doesn’t need to be a consideration with other CBD consumption methods like vaping, dabbing, sublingual administration, and topical administration (directly onto the skin).
