What is Bioavailability and How Does it Affect Your CBD Intake?
So you take CBD (either for the first time or for the 100th time) and you don’t feel anything different. What now? Was it a placebo? Do you have a high tolerance for it? Did you take it right? There might be a chance that you need assistance with learning how to dose CBD. If you are dosing properly and you still don’t feel like it’s doing anything, it’s likely due to bioavailability.
What is bioavailability
Bioavailability refers to how well your body can absorb the nutrients you put in it. This is mainly when talking about taking drugs or other supplements. And mainly refers to the method you’re getting the supplements in. Don’t worry! It rarely has to do with your own abilities to absorb nutrients. Think of bioavailability as the kind of car the supplements drive. The same supplements can drive a very very fast car or a slow, older car. That is going to affect how quickly they can get to where they’re going in your body as well as how effective they’ll be once they get there.
Increasing bioavailability
Is it possible to make something more bioavailable? We’re glad you asked!
Other than seeking out a CBD product that already has a high bioavailability, you can try out some of these tips to make it more bioavailable:
Take it with something fatty
Taking CBD when you’re eating some particularly fatty food is a great way to stretch its bioavailability. The fat from the food is a great absorber, so when you take, let’s say, CBD gummies, there isn’t as many nutrients and other things wasted as it’s processed in your body. The fat from the food acts as a buffer for the CBD to not get wasted in the digestive system.
Leave it under your tongue
Oils and other water-soluble forms of CBD will be absorbed the best by your body. When you place drops of tincture oil, for example, under your tongue, it skips the part where it gets digested. Allowing it to linger on your tongue or especially under your tongue will help it take the shortcut to your bloodstream. Oils are best when taken in this method, but you can also use this for edible CBD products. There will still be a percentage of the product’s nutrients that are wasted in the digestive system, but doing this allows that waste to be just a little less.
How does each CBD product measure up?
In general, the quicker something can get to your bloodstream, the more bioavailable it is. Which puts vaping and inhaling at the top (straight to the lungs and the blood vessels there), then CBD edibles toward the bottom, and anything else that needs to be introduced to the digestive system. Keep this little chart in mind when you are trying to dose and not feeling any effects, or just looking to get more out of your CBD!
Highest > Vaping
Tincture oils
Lowest > Gummies + Candies
