Everything you wanted to know about CBD but were afraid to ask.
Hemp, extraction, full spectrum, and how CBD works with the body.
Where it all begins: hemp, cannabis and CBD
Cannabis is a tall, flowering plant with a stiff upright stem, divided serrated leaves and glandular hairs. There are three species. Cannabis sativa is the most common, cultivated throughout history for seed oil, food, hemp fiber for clothes and rope, medicine and recreational use. Cannabis indica, first discovered in India, is shorter and bushier. Cannabis ruderalis, native to Russia, flowers earlier and withstands harsher conditions but is not a good source of cannabinoids.
“Marijuana” describes cannabis plants cultivated for medicines or intoxicants from the flower. “Hemp”, or industrial hemp, refers to cannabis plants naturally low in THC, historically grown for fiber and seeds. Today hemp means any cannabis plant that contains less than 0.3% THC. In the United States, CBD oil from industrial hemp is legal in all fifty states under the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, the 2018 Farm Bill. Sacred Essentials™ only uses CBD oil derived from hemp.
Where does CBD come from?
CBD is primarily extracted from the flowers of the Cannabis sativa plant. It is one of more than 100 cannabinoids found in the plant and the second most abundant compound in hemp, typically up to 40% of its extracts. To make a CBD product, the cannabinoid content is extracted from the plant using methods such as CO₂ extraction, the process Sacred Essentials™ uses. Other compounds come with it: terpenes (smell and taste), flavonoids (color) and additional cannabinoids.
Full spectrum, broad spectrum and isolate
Full Spectrum CBD contains all the compounds naturally occurring in the plant, including terpenes, essential oils and other cannabinoids, which work together to magnify the benefits of each: the “entourage effect”.
Broad Spectrum CBD keeps the other compounds but removes THC completely. CBD isolate is the purest form, often over 99% pure, with every other compound removed.
Sacred Essentials™ uses Full Spectrum CBD, and works with its extraction partner to select and test plant strains so our products contain no or minimally detectable THC, well below the 0.3% legal limit.
Full Spectrum
Every compound the plant makes, working together. What Sacred uses.
Broad Spectrum
The other compounds, with THC removed.
Isolate
CBD alone, often over 99% pure.
The endocannabinoid system
There is a system in our bodies made of receptors that interact with cannabinoids like CBD and THC: the endocannabinoid system. If you imagine the body as a machine, the immune system is the filtration, the brain is the motherboard, and endocannabinoids help to maintain these systems.
Research suggests that when CBD stimulates the CB1 or CB2 receptors it can improve their functionality, helping to restore balance within the body. Many potential benefits are being studied today. To date, only one therapeutic drug involving CBD has been approved by the FDA, Epidiolex, for two rare forms of childhood epilepsy. All other benefits are still under study.
