REWARDS
With the CBD market growing by the day, customers are wanting specific answers on the quality of their CBD products regarding potency and effectiveness, and rightfully so.
CBD, or cannabidiol, is the non-psychoactive, therapeutic compound found in the cannabis plant. CBD users who have experimented with the plant-based supplement are singing hymns of its effective healing properties known to ease anxiety, get rid of pain, tame their digestive systems, improve their focus, and so much more.
Because CBD is in such high demand right now, farmers are needing to cultivate more hemp plants and manufacturers are needing to produce higher quantities of the substance in order to meet customer expectations – all without compromising on the quality of the CBD itself.
In light of this, researchers are discovering faster and safer ways to measure cannabis potency, providing CBD fans with the utmost comfort that their favorite wellness agent has been sourced from nothing short of premium standards.
Which begs the question…
What Is This New Research Method?
According to CBDs News, a research team from the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus has unveiled a new method of measuring phytocannabinoids. This revolutionary method (not yet given an official name) can be used to generate faster, safer and more accurate information for producers, regulators and consumers alike in calibrating the potency and quality of CBD products.
A Ph.D. chemistry student, Matthew Noestheden, under Professor Wesley Zandberg at UBC, says that licensed cannabis growers all over Canada and the United States have an increased need for reliable lab testing. Makes sense, as the desire for CBD oils, capsules, and other CBD-based products are gaining in popularity across the states and all over the world.
These lab tests the chemistry student is referring to determine the potency of the rapidly (and continually) growing quantities of varying cannabis products, saying that while traditional tests (the tests researchers have been using the past few years) take around 20 minutes to perform, this new method coined by Noestheden can produce accurate results in less than 7 minutes.
For producers that have greenhouses full of sample CBD products that all need testing for quality and potency, this is a huge deal.
In addition to saving growers and producers time (cut in half, mind you) and money, the “record-breaking” new testing method can even test for almost a limitless number of phytocannabinoid variants, the most impactful breakthrough the cannabis industry has seen yet.
Side note to put things into perspective: A phytocannabinoid is a molecule synthesized by plants. There are 113 known phytocannabinoids in the cannabis plant, including CBD, which is the second-most abundant cannabinoid next to THC (the psychoactive component responsible for giving people a high, which CBD does not do). Phytocannabinoids have been used to treat a number of human and animal ailments for ages, and now, CBD in particular, is turning out to be quite the miracle substance for individuals seeking natural relief from anxiety, depression, inflammation and the like.
The Science Of It All
To better understand why a new faster and safer way of measuring cannabis quality matters, potency (the power of something to influence or make an impression, in this case, cannabinoids) of a product is first priority when determining the safety and authenticity of any and all products that contain cannabis or cannabidiol.
Here is what happened in the testing phase of the new research method:
The research team tested twice as many phytocannabinoids compared to what labs can currently test for, meaning they did this in record time. The chemistry student attested that with this new method, it is easier to test for as much as 50 – or perhaps all 113 – variants of the cannabinoids involved. Testing in this manner proved to be twice as fast compared to older methods.
Noestheden is hopeful his new cannabis potency testing method will help researchers better connect the variation in phytocannabinoids with the pharmacological effects (the effects CBD has on cells, organs and systems) of “all sorts of cannabis products.”
Any cannabis testing lab equipped with the appropriate instrumentation should be able to adopt the new method with minimal additional investment, making the whole process less expensive, faster, and most importantly, safe for consumers purchasing CBD products.