Back when CBD was just getting started there were only a few different products available and a mere handful of companies dominated the market.
These days, CBD is everywhere. New products are hitting the market on an almost daily basis. In 2020 CBD enthusiasts are vaping CBD, eating CBD, and even mixing CBD into both non-alcoholic drinks and potent cocktails. It’s estimated that the cannabis-infused beverage space will hit $260 million in the U.S. by 2022.
The more interest there is in CBD beverages, the more interest there is in water-soluble CBD. What, though, IS water-soluble CBD? And when is it a potentially better option when compared to regular CBD oils?
We know that CBD terminology can be super confusing and that can make it difficult to understand exactly what some of these phrases mean. Let’s take a closer look at the definition of “water-soluble” and examine how it relates to effective CBD.
What is Water-Soluble CBD?
We all know that oil and water don’t mix. Because our bodies are 60% water, CBD oil has a hard time absorbing into the bloodstream. For this reason, there is a low degree of bioavailability for most CBD products.
But what, exactly, is bioavailability?According to the medical experts, bioavailability refers to the extent a substance or drug becomes completely available to its intended biological destination(s).
OK, so what does that have to do with CBD use?
Well, as we said earlier, because the body is 60% water, when we take most CBD products, we just aren’t getting as much of it as we think. No matter if it’s a tincture, softgel or gummy, not all of the CBD content in that product makes it into the bloodstream.
Here’s a surprising statistic: a 2012 study showed that the bioavailability of CBD products that are ingested orally was only around 6%. On the other end of the spectrum, vaping, which is considered one of the fastest CBD delivery methods available, had a bioavailability rate of approximately 31%.
The fact that so little of the CBD actually makes it into the bloodstream prompted scientists to come up with a solution – water-soluble CBD. Before we talk about how water-soluble CBD works we should let you know that it 
doesn’t actually dissolve in water like other “water-soluble“ products. Instead, it’s formulated to become more compatible with water, therefore becoming more effective.
How is Water-Soluble CBD Produced?
Have you ever heard the term “nanotechnology”? It’s a field of research centered around creating things on the scale of atoms and molecules. In the hemp space, nanotechnology break ups CBD clusters into micro-sized particles using sound waves.
The CBD/cannabis industry is still young and there is much research yet to be done. Nanotechnology is, thus far, the best way of creating water-soluble CBD. During this process CBD is broken down into droplets that are 10-100 nanometers in size. At Purelix Wellness, the nanoemulsion technology used in the process used to create our CBD softgels breaks down the particles to 25-60 nanometers.
We know your next question- just how small is a nanometer? A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter so….REALLY small! To give you an idea of HOW small, the diameter of the average human hair is 80,000 nanometers.
After the CBD is broken down through nanotechnology into microscopic particles, it becomes much more compatible with water because it’s small enough to disperse among and into the water molecules.
Water-soluble CBD offers a number of specific benefits to the user. We’ve outlined the biggest advantages below.
The Benefits of Water-Soluble CBD
Why will water-soluble CBD change the industry for the better?
First, it offers increased bioavailability. The nanoemulsion process we used to create Purelix Wellness products, for example, make our water-soluble formulas higher in bioavailability than oil-based products. This means that you have to take less to achieve the same great results. Because more CBD is making its way into your system, less of the product is wasted. This also means that you have to spend less money on CBD in the long run.
The biggest impact it will have in the industry is to the CBD beverage space. Because of the bioavailability of water-soluble CBD, it can be easily mixed into any existing beverage making the delivery method personal to your own particular tastes. And think about how easy it would be to just mix your daily 
medications with your morning cup of coffee! Because it’s so quickly absorbed into the liquid, your daily CBD regimen just got easier, more personal and better tasting.
Water-soluble CBD works much more rapidly than oil-based formulas. If taken orally, CBD has to go through the digestive tract and liver before hitting the bloodstream. This process is known as the “pass effect” and decreases and delays the impact your CBD will have. So, if the CBD gets to your bloodstream faster because of its water-soluble properties, the better you’ll feel in a shorter amount of time.
Many experts believe that water-soluble CBD will, when widely used, cause a spike in CBD beverage sales and result in an improvement in the quality of products available in the marketplace.
Ronan Levy, a chief strategy officer at one of the premier emerging biotech companies in the water-soluble CBD industry, spoke about how water-soluble cannabinoids could change the cannabis beverage market in a recent interview with Cannabis Business Times.
When asked about his overall outlook for the cannabis infused beverage market, Levy had the following to say:
Someone described it to me the other day, and I think it was appropriate. The guy I was speaking to was instrumental in developing gluten-free foods in Canada, and he said version one gluten-free foods, they were by and large, pretty bad. They didn’t taste good, they had terrible texture, but if you had Celiac’ s Disease, it gave you an option. But with time, technology, investment and more people flooding into the market of gluten-free foods, the quality of gluten-free foods has increased substantially and now the gluten-free breads are comparable with other breads.
The cannabis industry is the same way. There are drinks out there that people are consuming
because they like the format, but they don’t taste very good, they have an unpredictable effect, and I think the first line of products coming out are probably going to be bad to OK. But with time, investment and technologies that address a lot of the fundamental issues around the existing technologies that make mediocre drinks, you’re going to see the quality of beverages improve.
because they like the format, but they don’t taste very good, they have an unpredictable effect, and I think the first line of products coming out are probably going to be bad to OK. But with time, investment and technologies that address a lot of the fundamental issues around the existing technologies that make mediocre drinks, you’re going to see the quality of beverages improve.Final Thoughts on Water Soluble CBD
At Purelix Wellness we believe in keeping up with new technologies that result in higher quality CBD products. Nanoemulsion is one of the processes that we’ve adopted in our ongoing attempts to offer the consumer the highest quality CBD formulas.
We also believe that our customers shouldn’t have to take more of something to get better results. Thanks to water-soluble CBD our customers can ingest less and enjoy the best experience.
Then there’s the fact that water-soluble CBD works more rapidly than most other methods. Quicker onset means quicker results. Also, water-soluble CBD is much safer to ingest than vaping which also works quickly but comes with a whole host of potentially dangerous side-effects.
You can trust that we will continue to research the science as it advances. We’re committed to always offering the best THC-free broad spectrum CBD available. If you have any questions regarding CBD, please let us know!
