Understanding CBD: Full Spectrum vs. Broad Spectrum vs. Isolate

If you have been around CBD products long enough you’ve probably seen the different types of extraction products called Full spectrum hemp extract, Broad spectrum hemp extract, and CBD Isolate. Let’s discuss what all of those mean so you can be informed when choosing your next CBD product.

Full Spectrum Hemp Extract is where the whole hemp plant is extracted with a solvent or process, and the resulting product contains all the compounds found in the plant.  This includes cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids that naturally occur in the cannabis plant, as well as many others. Included in this list is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).  To be legally classified as “hemp”, the plant must contain less than 0.3% THC. That small of an amount does not contain enough THC to get you high but full spectrum hemp extract may contain trace amounts of THC, which may show up on a drug test if you use products that contain full spectrum extract.

Broad Spectrum Hemp Extract is identical to full spectrum hemp extract, which means it contains the whole plant profile with all the cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids that naturally occur in the cannabis plant, except the THC cannabinoid is specifically removed.  So broad spectrum extract has 0% THC, but all the other beneficial compounds in the plant. This means that anyone who uses broad spectrum will pass a drug test if the test is looking for THC.  Here at Doc D’s, we only use broad spectrum hemp extract – to read more about broad spectrum extract check out our article here.

CBD Isolate is called an isolate because it is a pure cannabidiol (CBD) product isolated from the plant without any of the other cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids, or plant compounds. The downside of using CBD isolate is that you may miss out on a beneficial side effect of cannabis called “the entourage effect.”  This term was coined by the scientists who discovered that the medicinal effects of using cannabis were greater when all of the plant compounds, such as the cannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpenes, are present together compared to a single pure compound.

 Just like anything you put in your body, read the fine print, choose your products and ingredients carefully and discover the best fit for you!