CBD Dosage Calculator

What Is Bioavailability?

Before we dig into calculating how much CBD you should take, it’s important to understand what bioavailability means. Bioavailability is the amount of a compound that you take that actually gets absorbed into your bloodstream. For example, an intravenous injection may have bioavailability of nearly 100% (take 100mg, 100mg makes it into your bloodstream / circulatory system). Smoking is popular because it’s not as gorey as injection but can have bioavailability of up to 80% according to some sources! Alternatively, an oral or pill form may be as low as 5% if the nutrient is not water soluble or affected by your digestive processes.

To explain this a bit further: orally administered drugs must pass through the intestinal wall and onto the liver, and may be metabolized before adequate absorption. Chemical reactions from digestive enzymes or gastric acid may also lower bioavailability. Low bioavailability is most common with oral dosage forms of poorly water-soluble, slowly absorbed molecules. CBD is not water soluble, which is why we create our cannabis tinctures in MCT oil — lipids, or fats, help increase bioavailability / absorption of cannabinoids, and MCT oil has higher lipid concentration than alternatives such as hemp oil or olive oil.

This is also why we suggest holding our tincture under your tongue or in your cheek – you can bypass the liver / digestive process by absorbing CBD through the mucus membrane / tissues in your mouth.

This is important because…CBD is super expensive!! Understanding bioavailability can help you make sure you’re maximizing the bang for your buck. And of course…always ask for lab results and don’t get duped by fake CBD brands that make false claims about their strength.

Now that you’re a bioavailability expert, let’s dig in…

CBD Dosage Calculation Guidelines

The Mayo Clinic’s averages for CBD bioavailability by method of administration are:

• Oral Digestion: 6% – 15% (better results when consumed with fats. let’s assume 10% for our calculator)
• Sublingual / Absorbed via Mouth Tissues: 35%
• Vaporization: Up to 60% (better results from deeper and longer breaths)
• Intranasal (interesting because we’ve never seen this before…time for some new product development?): 34 – 46% (let’s assume 40% for our calculator)

Everyone is different and factors such as concentration of CBD, individual weight and body chemistry, activity level and what you’ve eaten that day means some people will need more or less CBD. Dosage recommendations may also be different based on why you’re choosing to take it. Since everyone is different, as an example we will go off of how much CBD our CEO takes based off of her personal conversation with her doctor – 20 milligrams, twice daily, in the morning and before bed.

Based on the statistics above, to actually absorb 20 MG of CBD into your bloodstream you need to consume:

• Oral Digestion: 200 MG
• Sublingual Tincture / Oral Suspension: ~57 MG (note: this is about 1 dropperful of our CBD Tincture)
• Vaporization: ~33 MG (note: this is ~13 puffs on our CBD Vape Pen – or check out our new live resin carts
• Intranasal: 50 MG (we’re still not sure about snorting CBD but trying to stick to NIH data here…)

WHAT’S RIGHT FOR ME?

The FDA has not created a Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) for CBD, which means CBD does not have an official serving size, so it’s up to you to listen to your body, and make sure that you’re only using high-quality products. Most people start with a low dosage of around 10-20mg and work their way up incrementally. If the user experiences no change, they might increase to 40-50mg, and continue increasing until effective and consistent in providing daily maintenance.

PRODUCT IDEAS

TribeTokes recommends plant-based oral tinctures containing full spectrum CBD and a carrier oil high in lipids, like our TribeTINCS MCT (medium-chain triglycerides) oil formulation. After holding the oil under your tongue and in your cheek for a minute, you should swallow it to absorb the leftovers via digestion. Tinctures, including THC tinctures, CBG tinctures and CBN tinctures in addition to CBD, are gaining in popularity because they are easy to use, have varying concentrations and are easy to understand for beginners. Simply drop under your tongue, or add to any drink.

Remember, all natural topical creams like our TribeREVIVE THC lotion do not enter the bloodstream but rather interact with the cannabinoid receptors in your skin to regulate pain – so they are better for all external bodily use. Try even more delicate topical CBD creams for sensitive areas like TribeTokes’ formulations for the face and eyes.

CBD edibles differ from CBD tinctures in the length of time the CBD takes to kick in. With a tincture, you are looking at around 15 minutes before you can notice the effects of CBD working on your system. With an edible, the time frame can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour or more. Of course, you can’t overdose on CBD, so there’s little need to worry about taking too much! Just remember to start small and move up your dosage incrementally.

Based on the high bioavailability of vaping, our vapes are a great option and the best sellers are our CBD Vape Starter Kit and our CBD Disposable Pen.

We know you have questions and want to hear from you! Please click here, tell us what you are thinking and let us know how we can help. After all, we are all part of the same tribe! Enjoy your CBD testing!