If you are like me, you never really grew out the "why" phase that seems to inflict most small children. We want to know why things work a certain way. This was definitely true when I was introduced to CBD tinctures. One of the instructions many products had was "hold under your tongue for x amount of seconds". Well, why should I do that? How does that make a difference?
To get the answer I needed, I went on a quest that made me wish I had paid more attention in science class. According to Teach Me Anatomy, we have these little almond shaped glands on the oral cavity floor under our tongue called the Sublingual Gland. These little glands make up only 3-5% of our overall saliva.
In an article published by Elevated Hemp Solutions, they advise "Holding a small amount of CBD oil under the tongue for 60 seconds allows it to quickly enter the bloodstream through these glands".
While it may sound like something new, taking ingestibles this way has been around for a while. Psychology Today published an article in 2018 about sublingual vitamins. And while CBD and traditional vitamins are in two separate categories medically speaking, the theory is the same.
According to the Psychology Today article, "They work because the nutrient is absorbed under the tongue and enters the bloodstream directly without having to go through the gastrointestinal tract."
This theory can be applied to CBD oil, though most studies surrounding sublingual ingestion have centered around vaccines and pharmaceutical drugs. However, one preliminary study conducted by the British Pharmacological Society found "Oil solution and sublingual wafer formulations of the extract standardised with CBD were well tolerated and achieved equivalent concentrations of CBD when compared to an available commercial nabiximols formulation."
It's no secret that quality CBD oil is a little more on the pricy side. So making sure you ingest it in the most efficient way possible is important. Sublingual ingestion has become an increasingly popular way of taking vitamins, and the CBD industry is following suit. Preliminary studies support this theory, however more research needs to be conducted to determine, if any, long term side effects of this method.