What Do Bioavailability and Sublingual Mean For Me?
What is Bioavailability?
Bioavailability is simply defined as the rate and amount of a substance that is able to be absorbed into the bloodstream unchanged.
There are various reasons as to why we might want to receive CBD-rich hemp extracts whether it is to prevent illness, manage a chronic condition, or just for your general wellbeing and health. In any case, you want to obtain as much as possible out of every dose, and this is where maximizing the bioavailability of CBD and other cannabinoid compounds come into play.
How do you Maximise CBD Bioavailability?
The only way you can get 100% bioavailability is if you inject CBD into a vein (intravenously) because it goes straight into your bloodstream without losing any of its purity while it's on its way there.
When you swallow CBD or take it orally, the bioavailability will decrease some. There is no formula for how much it will decrease because it depends on each person's body, their digestive system, and the type of product. When you swallow CBD it has to travel through your body, losing some of the purity along the way until it gets into your bloodstream. If you take a gel capsule, it will travel to your liver where the capsule will be broken down, oil will escape, and some of the CBD concentration will break down as well before it is able to be absorbed into the bloodstream. This also takes some time to reach the bloodstream reducing its bioavailability. One way to increase bioavailability when ingesting CBD is to take fatty acids along with it so it will increase the rate of absorption.
Vaping CBD is highly bioavailable because it can be absorbed into your bloodstream within seconds. For those that enjoy vaping, this is an excellent option. The CBD is inhaled directly into the lungs where millions of alveoli absorb it into your bloodstream. This can become less bioavailable if you don't hold the CBD in and exhale most of it before it's able to be absorbed. The best practice is to inhale it and hold it for a few seconds before exhaling. Another downside is the effects are short lived and only last a couple of hours.
Since CBD shots aren't currently a thing, and you would need a doctor to administer it, the best way to maximize bioavailability for the average person is to take CBD oil sublingually.
All About Sublingual Administration
What does sublingual mean? Sublingual is Latin for "under the tongue", and if you break down the word "sub" means "under" and "lingual" means "relating to the tongue."
What does sublingual have to do with bioavailability? Instead of CBD making its way to the liver, stomach, and intestines like food or pills, the oil is absorbed under your tongue directly transferring into your blood. This gets rid of the variability of losing its concentration like ingesting it does when it gets to your liver.
One downside for smokers that try to ingest CBD sublingually is that it may not be able to be absorbed properly. Smoking can cause inflammation of the mucous membranes blocking the CBD from being able to be absorbed.
In March of 2003, there was a small study to see if there are any differences in the bioavailability of THC and CBD when used in different ways. They tested it by administering the oil under the tongue, between cheek and gums, directly to the throat, and swallowed. They found that CBD taken sublingually had a half-life of 86 minutes and only 65 minutes when taken orally. This means if you took it sublingually, it will take 86 minutes before half of the CBD is removed from your body so you will get the effects 25% longer than when you take CBD orally.
The scientists were also able to figure out bioavailability is by measuring the rate at which a drug is eliminated from the body after it is administered and the administered dose; this is called AUC or area under the curve. Measuring the AUC for sublingual use they found the two scores were 408.53 and 427.33. This was higher than oral use measured at 345.68 and 362.04 which means there is a greater potential for sublingual use to be more effective.
Liposomes Increase bioavailability
Liposomes are liquid filled spherical-shaped sacs that are able to help deliver substances to tissues. There are also liposomal hemp extracts, surrounding the hemp extract by a type of fat will create easier, more efficient absorption so they are even more bioavailable.
Even though more human studies are needed, CBD-rich hemp extracts and CBD consumed sublingually might be better than taking it any other way because it avoids many obstacles that cause the cannabinoids to lose concentration between the administration and their destination.