You gotta be careful whenever buying hemp or hemp-derived products. Skipping over the fine print makes you susceptible to purchasing products that could risk your wellness. In some cases, brands might even toss in ingredients that might alter or dampen the effects of hemp’s chemistry.
Of all the popular CBD products on the market, gummies possibly include the most additives and ingredients than any other choice. So before you buy a jar, it pays to get familiar with the most common CBD gummies ingredients.
Hemp product manufacturers have free rein when it comes to concocting their CBD gummies among other things. So there isn’t a specific template or blueprint that they follow. This freedom has birthed a handful of different varieties of CBD gummies which in turn contain a sundry of different ingredients.
This is perhaps the first thing that buyers check for when browsing their CBD gummy options. Of course, all CBD gummies contain hemp chemistry. But the extent to which they reflect the fullness of that chemistry depends on whether they use full-spectrum, broad-spectrum, or CBD isolate.
Essentially, full spectrum CBD gummies contain the whole plant chemistry — no ifs or buts. This includes THC — the psychoactive compound found in trace amounts in hemp. The broad spectrum does away with THC for people who want the fullness of hemp’s effects minus that little legal thorn.
CBD isolate does away entirely with every other compound in hemp, except for CBD. This prolific cannabinoid makes up over 20% of hemp’s chemistry and has been said to provide the most benefits across the entire plant’s organic content.
Yes, gummies of all kinds almost always contain animal products. This comes in the form of gelatin. Derived from the cartilage of swine and bovine, gelatin is often the only animal-derived ingredient in gummy products.
Buyers who have specific dietary restrictions may opt to purchase vegan CBD gummies that exclude gelatin in favor of plant-based ingredients like agar.
To cater to a wider audience, brands have come up with varieties like daytime gummies and nighttime gummies. The main difference? The addition of melatonin.
This added ingredient has shown throughout multiple studies that it works well to improve sleep quality and duration. Adding melatonin to CBD gummies may help enhance its effects to support sleep versus standard gummies without the sleep agent.
Although ingredients for gummies tend to vary as illustrated above, certain inclusions almost always exist in any gummy formulation. These common ingredients make CBD gummies the candies that they are and provide that sweet, tasty vehicle to carry your CBD dose into your system.
The most common ingredients you’ll find in CBD gummies include:
While the literature on the topic remains scarce, manufacturers insist that none of these products interfere with the CBD concentrate that they toss into the mix. That means you can still get the full effects of the hemp-derived extract even if it comes with all of these other ingredients.
Most gummies pass through a starch molding process. This involves mixing together all of the ingredients following the manufacturer’s ratios. Workers then mix in their CBD extract which usually comes in the form of oil. The process gets completed by adding the mixture into starched, lined trays.
These trays come in an assortment of shapes, including the ever-popular bear shape. The gummies then get left overnight to cool and solidify. Some add a little extra sweetness by tossing the hardened gummies into some granulated sugar.
Testing the product may happen before the mixture gets poured into trays, or after the gummies harden. Most manufacturers choose to assess the mixture itself so they won’t have to go through the hardening process if the batch doesn’t meet standards early on.
Reputable vendors make it a point to provide their customers with certificates of analysis, or CoAs. These documents showcase exactly what their products contain, including ratios of CBD and other cannabinoids in the mix.
It’s important to look into CoA’s, not just ingredient lists because these documents provide information that might not show up anywhere else. For instance, a product’s CoA can tell you whether the CBD gummies contain any harmful adulterants.
You’d be surprised how many products have been recalled for salmonella and e. Coli contamination. These microbes come from fecal matter. So if a product turns out positive for either of these contaminants, you can guess where and how they were manufactured and handled.
Remember — when it comes to ingredients, manufacturers will only list the specific items that they use during the process. But since they won’t list things that make it into their products by accident (like certain types of bacteria, microbes, heavy metals, and others), it’s important that you always read the CoAs.
Moreover, certificates of analysis tell you how much CBD a specific product contains. Vendors can make all sorts of claims when it comes to the potency of their products. But with a certificate of analysis, you should get a clearer picture of exactly how much CBD you’re getting in your CBD gummies.
CBD gummies ingredients include much more than you might think. And because everyone should practice caution when choosing products that go into their system, it’s ideal that you familiarize yourself with the most common ingredients that wiggle their way into CBD gummy formulations.
But more than that, it’s vital that you also inspect your products for contamination. Because manufacturers won’t list adulterants on their ingredient lists, reading through certificates of analysis should provide you with a holistic idea of exactly what you’re getting with each dose of your CBD gummies.
