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Health and Fitness · October 18, 2021

Understanding the Water Solubility of CBD Powder: How It Works

A common way of dissolving CBD into fats is by using emulsions like “Hemp Oil Drops.” These are mixtures of various oils with hemp oil (CBD, terpenes). These oils are mixed with lecithin (vegetable emulsifier) to make them stable.

There are other ways to dissolve CBD into fats, though. water soluble cbd powder offers several conveniences and even uses for transport.

About Water-Soluble CBD

If you use water as the solvent instead of oil, the CBD will not dissolve. This is because it’s not soluble in water. Instead, it will float on top of your drink or food and, after a few minutes, either eventually sink to the bottom or float away.

What is Water Solubility of CBD?

CBD does not mix well with water and therefore needs a polar solvent if you want to dissolve it into anything other than pure fats or oils. 

That’s why popular products like CBD oil drops consist primarily of oils and lecithins that contain a lot of CBD. The more polar a solvent is, the better it dissolves other molecules. 

Ethanol has a very high polarity and therefore dissolves most molecules well, including CBD. So, it is often used to dissolve cannabinoids in drinks or food products.

Nanoemulsion to Make Water Soluble CBD Products

When you put oil and water together in the same container, the oil and water won’t mix.

Yet, if you add an emulsifier, the oil droplets will start to clump together into more significant drops. This phenomenon increases surface area and decreases the oil’s viscosity. The decreased viscosity means that it’s easier for water molecules to enter the oil droplets.

Because of this, water can now dissolve more oil molecules and vice versa. Both water and oil are less dense in an emulsion than without it. As a result, you can create stable mixtures consisting of two immiscible liquids by adding an emulsifier to one of them.

Nanoemulsion is a mixture of oil, water, and synthetic surfaces that lower the surface tension of one or more liquids in an emulsion without altering their colors or viscosities. Nanoemulsions consist primarily of water (apart from any solvents you add). 

For this reason, they’re very similar to water and, therefore, good solvents for CBD. In this way, water soluble CBD products are made. The smaller the droplets in a nanoemulsion are, the more surface area available for water molecules to dissolve oil molecules. 

As such, the size of these emulsions sets their water solubility: smaller emulsions mean that they can dissolve more oil molecules and make them mix better with water molecules.

How Does Water Solubility of CBD Affect Its Bioavailability?

CBD does not dissolve easily in water because the polar ends in the molecule are repelled by water. Instead, CBD prefers fats and oils (like other lipids). But this doesn’t mean your body won’t be able to absorb it even if you dissolve it in water.

The bioavailability of CBD is the percentage that reaches its target site once it has been administered. A substance with high bioavailability can be administered in small amounts, while substances with low bioavailability require larger doses. 

The substance needs to travel further within the body to be absorbed.

Wrapping Up

The water solubility of CBD is an essential factor when it comes to its bioavailability because most CBD products are used sublingually or orally (mixed into drinks or food).