CBD (Cannabidiol) is one of the functional ingredients, gathered from the female Cannabis flower. Beside medical therapies, CBD becomes famous in cosmetic solutions, food and drink industries. Even first feed products are refined with CBD.
Unfortunately, comparing the CBD market hype with the existing product solutions, most of these products are based on simple CBD liquids based on an oily matrix. As CBD is lipophilic, an oily matrix turns out to be the easiest solution and enhances the uptake of CBD slightly. But is it the best solution for market products? Let’s keep an eye on solubility in the human stomach. Solubility indicates how quickly and to what extent the ingredient is dissolved in the stomach acid and is thus available for body uptake. The solubility of oil-based solutions is generally less than 10 %, so that only a small part of CBD is available for uptake into the human body. Obviously, there is room for development and improvement.
Speaking to nutrition marketers, oil-based products seems to have even more limitations. They have a poor usability for drinks and beverages: Who likes to have an oil film on the surface? Oily matrices are also not able to cover the taste of CBD. Requirements to corporate identities such as taste definition cannot be realized – a clear no-go in nutrition industries.
Pioneering CBD solutions
What might a better solution look like? A pioneer in CBD products, the Orocan AG, was already questioning this for a longer time. Moritz Blank, Head of Business Development, summarizes the historical issue: “unprocessed CBD in pure form is poorly soluble in water, serves a bitter taste and goes hand in hand with stability and handling issues – who should buy this?” Orocan AG and their partner Ingredientpharm identified, that only a literally ground-breaking attempt will create the space needed for new CBD products.
A future-prove solution was pioneered in 2020 and successfully evaluated. An advanced drug delivery system based on active ingredient encapsulation, called Re-Emulsifying Drug Delivery System (REDDS®), was established. The patent-pending REDDS® technology allows an encapsulation of CBD in a dry emulsion phase. Upon contact with water, the dry emulsion quickly re-emulsifies in an aqueous environment. Therefore, REDDS® technology is the key to solubilize the lipophilic CBD in water. The emulsification enhances the uptake of CBD in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and the emulsion phase screens from the CBD taste. By re-defining the borderlines of dry emulsions, continuing product development has led to an increase in CBD concentration in the emulsion matrix up to 6% by keeping the product characteristics for industrial processing and customer expectations on highest levels.
Product developers were able to enormously increase the release of CBD from a dry emulsion form and thus also significantly increase the solubility of orally ingested CBD in an aqueous or acidic environment. Upon solubilization, the CBD dry emulsion is converted into micrometer-sized droplets (Figure 2). This results in an optimal absorption of CBD in the GIT. The in-vitro dissolution of the encapsulated CBD is superior to oil-based CBD solutions. As shown in Figure 1 the dissolution of the encapsulated CBD in a model stomach solution is faster and by far more efficient: After 5 minutes, the dissolution is more than 90%, while CBD from an oily matrix dissolves by less than 5% within the first 30 minutes.
CBD powder: on track for new applications
Professional product developers believe that REDDS technology can revolutionize the way we formulate and consume cannabinoid products in a sustainable way.
On an industrial level, encapsulated CBD offers advantages over conventional CBD oil in terms of stability transport, dosage safety and process handling. Moreover, this method is not limited to CBD, but can in principle be applied to any cannabis extract, cannabinoids (CBD, CBG, CBC, THC) or terpenes.
The CBD Powder by Ingredientpharm has been processed by REDDS® technology. It is a plant-based product. The containing CBD is made from organic hemp grown in the EU, and all other ingredients or fillers are also purely natural. The encapsulated CBD Powder can be used as an easy and efficient additive in diverse products. The CBD Powder can be applied cost-efficiently as an intermediate to a wide range of marketed solutions and can be considered for new product developments. Main applications are in food supplement, health care & cosmetics, and animal welfare.
The demand for CBD products on the world market is extensively growing. CBD is already a well-established ingredient in some regions. Food industries expect, that in 2022 more countries will legalize the use of THC-free CBD products for the consumer market. A special focus is on European countries, where a decision by the European Union is expected within short terms.
Thereby, the initial CBD market is facing a situation, where the first generation products, such as CBD oils, are reaching limits with respect to usability and user numbers, respectively. Exploring new market shares and entering market mature with second generation products will need to turn away from oil-based products. Having placed a niche product with limited application on the market is one side. But it is very different to serve an expanding and demanding market. Quality aspects and upscaling capacities are the main unlocking keys for the next product generation. “The encapsulated CBD Powder is a future-shaping and serious answer”, says Dr. Bastian Arlt, product manager at Ingredientpharm – ”We did our homework and we are ready”.
Ingredientpharm is specialized in the development and marketing of niche pharmaceutical and food excipients for solid dosage form with a strong expertise in controlled release and taste masking applications. Within CBD intermediates we focus on taste masking and product performance using innovative formulation and technology approaches. Ingredientpharm is a Swiss based company and acts internationally.
Ingredientpharm CBD Powder is a pure natural product with 0.0% THC. It consists of organic hemp grown in the European Union, and pure natural ingredients. The powder is an ideal portfolio booster for addressing CBD solutions to marketed products. Cost effective product development, efficient production and easy product refinement are key factors of the CBD Powder opening a new market for your product portfolio. REDDS® technology allows screening from the bitter CBD taste, keeping up with requirements to corporate design and product performance. Several CBD concentrations are available.