Bioavailability and CBD Nanoemulsion

Bioavailability is one of the most important variables in determining the effectiveness of CBD products. But what is bioavailability, and why should it factor into your decision when buying CBD tinctures? How does the bioavailability of Vana Labs’ CBD compare to that of other CBD tinctures, and how does Vana Labs create higher-bioavailability products? In this article, we answer these questions and many more, explaining how and why bioavailability should be your first priority when searching for the most effective, potent, and cost-effective CBD products.

What is Bioavailability?

The term “bioavailability” refers to the proportion of a substance–in this case, CBD–that, once consumed, enters the bloodstream to produce active effects. Contrary to what some may believe, when you consume a dosage of a typical CBD tincture, less than a tenth of the dosage you initially take produces active effects in the body. This is because typical tinctures have low bioavailability. When low-bioavailability CBD oil is ingested, it must process through the liver and digestive system before entering the bloodstream to produce active effects. In this process, overwhelming amounts of CBD are left behind; by the time your dosage of CBD oil makes it through your system and into the bloodstream, overwhelming amounts of CBD have been left behind and discarded by the body, producing no active effect. The tiny amount of CBD oil that does enter your bloodstream to produce active effects may be as little as one-tenth (or less) of your original dosage.

Bioavailability is essential to actually experiencing the effects of the CBD product that you consume. More essential, in fact, than the actual amount of CBD that you ingest in the first place. If you ingest one-hundred milligrams of CBD in a potent tincture with low bioavailability, you still receive the active effects and benefits of only a fraction of that dose–effects that can be achieved and surpassed with an exponentially smaller dose of a higher-bioavailability product. In short, the amount of CBD that you consume essentially doesn’t matter; bioavailability is the determining factor in whether or not you will actually feel the effects, and receive the benefits, of your dosage.

Nanoemulsion and Bioavailability: Vana Labs vs. Typical CBD Tinctures

Different forms of CBD yield different levels of bioavailability. And CBD oil, which happens to the the most popular form of CBD, typically has the lowest bioavailability of all; the majority of CBD tinctures on the market have a bioavailability of just 13-19% when consumed sublingually. In other words, no matter how much CBD oil you ingest, 81-87% of your dosage goes to waste because it takes so long to be processed by the body and circulate through the bloodstream.

Rather than entering the bloodstream to reach the endocannabinoid system, low-bioavailability CBD is simply left behind in the body before it can produce any effects–as a result, an overwhelming proportion of the CBD that you consume simply goes to waste.

This is why Vana Labs has spent four years developing innovative technology and proprietary techniques to create the highest-bioavailability tincture on the market. Due to our nanoemulsification technology and water-soluble formulation, our CBD has a bioavailability of up to 90%, which is exponentially higher than the vast majority of CBD tinctures sold on the market today.

How Does Vana Labs Increase the Bioavailability of CBD?

Using our proprietary technology, Vana Labs creates CBD products with the highest bioavailability of any tincture on the market. But how, exactly, does Vana Labs increase bioavailability so that the majority of the CBD you consume enters your bloodstream more efficiently, so that at least 90% of the CBD you ingest produces active effects?

Bioavailability is determined by how quickly the CBD you consume dissolves in the bloodstream. If more CBD is dissolved upon entering the bloodstream, more CBD can be absorbed by the body so as to produce its effects, and almost none of the CBD you consume is left behind in the body to go to waste.

The rate at which CBD dissolves in the bloodstream is determined by three factors: the surface area (or size) of CBD particles, body temperature, and the rate at which the CBD molecules are mixed into the bloodstream. Of these variables, particle size is the only factor that we, as CBD manufacturers, can control. This is why Vana Labs creates nanoemulsified CBD: using our innovative technology, we create CBD nanoparticles that are exponentially smaller than the CBD molecules found in lower-bioavailability products.

Bioavailability and Nanoparticles: Shrinking the Surface Area

The hemp extracts used to make CBD oil contain CBD molecules of varying sizes. In low-bioavailability tinctures, these CBD particles are typically too large to dissolve into the bloodstream efficiently, and the process takes too long, resulting in large traces of each dose being left behind (rather than successfully entering your system to produce its effects). Vana Labs developed its proprietary technology to fix this problem, recognizing low bioavailability as one of the greatest pitfalls of most products on the market today, and as the greatest obstacle preventing consumers from experiencing the benefits of effective CBD products.

Consequently, Vana Labs creates its CBD using nanoemulsion technology, a safe method of processing hemp extract that allows us to shrink the size of the CBD particles it contains. Our resulting CBD tincture is composed of CBD nanoparticles. CBD nanoparticles are exponentially smaller than typical CBD molecules that have not been subjected to nanoemulsion technology (i.e., the CBD molecules in most of our competitors’ CBD tinctures). Our nanoparticles are so small that they can be measured only in nanometers, with each nanoparticle ranging from just 10-37nm in size.

Imagine that you want to dissolve sugar in a cup of coffee. If you place a sugar cube in your beverage, it will take longer to dissolve because of its larger size–the same goes for large CBD molecules that have not been miniaturized through our nanoemulsion process. If, on the other hand, you place finely-ground sugar from a packet–each molecule represented by the size of each, tiny sugar granule–you will notice the sugar dissolve into your coffee almost instantly, because each sugar granule is already so small that it is absorbed by the surrounding liquid quickly and efficiently.

The same goes for CBD particle size and the difference in the rate at which large versus small CBD particles are dissolved in the bloodstream. Because Vana Labs’ CBD nanoparticles are so small, they dissolve into the bloodstream much more quickly, whereas larger CBD molecules–much like a sugar cube sitting at the bottom of your cup–take longer to dissolve in the liquid. By the time you finish your drink, a large chunk of the sugar cube at the bottom of your cup may still be left behind, still attempting to dissolve–yet it’s too late, as you’ve finished your drink, and the majority of the sugar has gone to waste: just like the CBD particles in a lower-bioavailability tincture.

Higher Bioavailability, Higher Potency, and Lower Doses: A More Cost-Efficient CBD Product

Ultimately, bioavailability is the most important factor in determining whether or not a CBD product will produce the effects and benefits you seek. In this respect, the amount of CBD that you consume doesn’t necessarily matter: even if you take a larger dose of CBD in an attempt to achieve more significant effects, nearly 90% of that dose will be left behind (whereas, when you consume Vana Labs CBD, at least 90% of your dose will produce active effects). As a result, low-bioavailability tinctures aren’t cost effective. Because so much CBD goes to waste with each dosage, many consumers will move to higher dosages in an attempt to achieve the benefits they desire. This causes consumers to go through each bottle of CBD faster, while with each dosage, a massive amount of the CBD they consume goes to waste.

High bioavailability products, on the other hand, can produce more potent benefits in much smaller dosages. When consumers use our product, they will be pleasantly surprised to find that just a fraction of their typical dose will yield more benefits than exponentially larger doses of typical, low-bioavailability tinctures. This makes for a more potent, cost-effective product; because only small doses are required to achieve optimal benefits, each bottle of Vana Labs will last longer, making our product not only higher-quality, but more cost-efficient, than the majority of CBD on the market today.