Quite simply the most important reason for choosing Life Spark CBD, and that’s not a boast, it’s a safeguard for all our customers. Independent third-party lab results clearly show you exactly what you are buying, which is why we openly publish ours on the website.
If you are thinking of trying CBD from another company that doesn’t have published lab results on their website, move on and don’t give them a second thought. But why, I hear you ask? Isn’t all CBD the same?
The simple answer is no. CBD claims are loosely regulated. Reputable CBD retailers always post third-party lab results for CBD potency, contaminants, and terpenes in the CBD hemp oil. If lab results are not provided, it is an automatic red flag. The risk to your health is just too high, so our advice is to never buy from a company without lab results. When it comes to high quality CBD, the proof is in the Lab Results.
Why are independent third-party lab results so important?
If you are thinking about trying CBD for the first time to get your life back on track by feeling healthier, whether it’s for anxiety, to relieve pain symptoms, or to reset your sleep cycle, being guaranteed the highest quality CBD will let you jump into your CBD experience with confidence. CBD is all about feeling better and living life your way.
Third-party testing for CBD products is important because it independently proves to customers exactly what is in the product you are hoping to buy and verifies the company claims are true. There are no alternative ways of verifying what’s in the CBD product you are buying.
It’s not just about understanding how much CBD is in the product, but without the lab results you could be exposing yourself to potentially dangerous substances that could harm you, rather than gaining the health benefits you are seeking from CBD in the first place.
Unfortunately, with the CBD industry being unregulated, it’s far too easy for manufacturers to be less than honest about the CBD content. Even more worrying, some products could contain heavy metals, pesticides, and other toxic elements.
That’s why at Life Spark, we are adamant that no-one should buy from a company that doesn’t openly publish their lab results.
Don’t all CBD companies have to do third-party testing?
Sadly not – the lack of regulation makes it easy for companies who are less than scrupulous to get away with selling very low quality, and even potentially harmful products to their customers.
The good news is that any reputable CBD retailer wants to prove the high quality of their products, to stand out from the crowd. The best way to do this is for CBD manufacturers to send samples to an independent testing company and publish the lab results.
The testing companies are highly trustworthy and have a reputation to uphold in their own industry, therefore the tests are reliable and will give a clear indication of the type of ingredients that can be found in CBD.
The labs look at three key areas in every sample – quality, purity, and potency – and provide an unbiased and independent report which can be trusted by customers. That’s exactly what we provide at Life Spark CBD so you can see just how high quality our products are.
What does the independent testing cover?
To assess any CBD product, the third-party laboratory will perform a series of tests to confirm what is included and that what’s in the bottle matches what is being advertised. Without a certificate of analysis (COA) there is no way of knowing what a CBD product contains.
The Centre of Medicinal Cannabis report that used Phyto Vista Labs, discovered that out of 30 Main Street CBD products; one pharmacy product had zero CBD in it and was retailing for £90, 11 CBD products had less than 50% of their stated CBD content, 8 products had solvent and heavy metal contamination, 1 product had a dangerous level of ethanol in it and 13 products had illegal levels of THC in them.
Reading the lab results can often be confusing…it was for us! If ever a question, just reach out and we can walk you through for clarity and understanding.
Here are some of the more common tests performed by the laboratories:
- The type and quantity of cannabinoids
With over 100 different cannabinoids, including THC (the one that gets people high),, it’s important for you to know what you are buying contains only the cannabinoids you are expecting, and which are beneficial to health and wellbeing.
Independent laboratories undertake specialist tests called COIA, Certificate of Internal Analysis, which reveal the precise concentration levels of various cannabinoids. This allows the laboratory to confirm whether the amount of CBD the company is claiming is in the bottle is true.
Importantly, the test will also reveal whether there is any THC in the product, and if so, at what level. If it’s too high, the product is illegal and could cause potential problems for anyone who uses it.
People who are using CBD that contains THC, and not expecting it, could end up failing work-related drug tests, or being caught driving under the influence of drugs, and face serious issues, all because a product was incorrectly promoted and sold to the public.
At Life Spark CBD we guarantee Zero THC and back it up with our Independent 3rd Party Lab Results. With Life Spark CBD, you won’t have any nasty surprises.
- Contamination from heavy metals
The way the cannabis plant grows means it draws all its nutrients from the soil it grows in, and spreads these through its leaves and stems. If it is planted in contaminated soil, it will pull those contaminants through into the plant. These could include arsenic, pesticides, heavy metals, and mycotoxins which then remain in the CBD hemp oil.
So, manufacturers who are growing their plants in a non-organic method or in less-than-ideal circumstances, can end up with cannabis leaves full of toxic components which can cause harm to humans.
For this reason, at Life Spark CBD we only work with manufacturers who use the finest organically grown hemp plants to create our cut-above-the-rest quality products. It’s just not worth the health risk.
- Contamination from solvents
Some CBD manufacturers use a process involving solvents to enable them to extract the cannabinoids from the plants and this can potentially leave behind impurities within the resulting oil. Remember, the Phyto Vista Labs found out of 30 CBD products, 8 had solvent and heavy metal contamination and 1 had a dangerous level of ethanol in it!
High quality retailers will always ensure they only buy CBD oil from reputable manufacturers who are using safe extraction processes such as the super critical CO2 process which we use here at Life Spark CBD. Not only is it a pure extraction method, it also does it not involve any solvents whatsoever while preserving all the terpenes and gets rid of all the THC.
Not all lab tests check for this kind of solvent contamination. So it is worth checking which types of lab reports were used in order to provide reassurance that none of these harmful solvents feature in any CBD products.
- Biological contamination of CBD oil
Cannabis plants are susceptible to attacks and infestations from parasites as well as fungus and mould and unfortunately, if contaminated plants go through any extraction process, these biological contaminants will end up in the customer’s CBD oil.
These types of contaminants can cause allergic reactions or worse harm to customers and need to be avoided.
Special third-party testing can show whether CBD products contain any of these harmful biological contaminants have made their way into products and if they have, don’t buy from this retailer. At Life Spark CBD we only use the highest quality organically grown hemp plants to make our products.
- Testing for terpenes
Terpenes are what give plants their smell and taste and are strong in the cannabis plant, as well as aromatic plants such as lemon trees, roses and others that have strong and instantly recognisable smells.
Terpenes not only help to improve the taste of the oil, but they also have their own health and wellbeing benefits. High quality CBD manufacturers and retailers will have their product tested to show all the beneficial terpene profiles – just like we have. Life Spark CBD oil doesn’t have that bitter grassy taste that customers of other products complain about, rather it is a clean, clear CBD oil with a pleasing aroma and taste.
Most cheaper manufacturers of CBD use extraction processes which destroy all the terpenes from the product. At Life Spark CBD we use a sophisticated extraction process, called Super Critical CO2 Extraction, which preserves the valuable terpenes,
It is quite unusual for a CBD retailer to test their CBD oil for its terpene content, so a published terpene profile is another good indicator of a high-quality product. You can see ours here.
What kind of tests do the labs run?
As the industry is unregulated, there is no set definition of the types of testing that should be done, but the industry standard that should be expected as a minimum is HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography), which provides highly accurate results.
HPLC is used to assess the cannabinoid profile. Other testing methods include PCR testing (Polymerase Chain Reactions) to check for any biological contamination, and MS Testing (Mass Spectrometry) which is used to detect any heavy metal contamination.
The types of tests that are carried out will depend on the lab chosen but all are fairly low cost to the manufacturer, which is another reason customers must insist on seeing these third-party lab results before considering buying any CBD products.
Shouldn’t the CBD product labels show you what’s in them?
It would make life a lot easier for CBD customers if the product labels were all clear, precise and standardised. Unfortunately, this is also not the case, which is why we say check for lab reports before buying.
At Life Spark we make sure our labels meet the MHRA guidelines, even though technically they don’t have to. We want to make sure our customers know exactly what they are getting from us.
The Phyto Vista Lab report revealed that 6 out of 10 CBD products out there are actually mislabelled, giving customers an incorrect view of what’s contained in the products – making the need for independent 3rd party labs results even more critical.
Imagine if you haven’t been sleeping, you simply cannot get rid of those muscle and joint aches or you are constantly anxious for what the future may bring, and you decide to browse online, or walk into a store to try CBD, knowing it won’t get you high.
You will soon find yourself completely bewildered by the vast ocean of brands and products out there. The labels are all different and confusing. Some will quote percentages, while others show milligrams or millilitres.
But with no idea of how much you should be taking, or any kind of regulated industry standard for you to follow, you can see why it can be incredibly challenging for both retailers and customers to be sure about what they are buying.
Looking for a high-quality product, with the right ingredients, which is going to be effective and support your journey to optimal health, can feel impossible in this unregulated market where labels can be deceptive and not everyone offers independent lab reports.
Sadly, after making an investment in your health, if you buy a poor-quality CBD product you might not get the health benefits you need and worse, you could end up with something that gets you high or contains health-compromising contaminants.
Here at Life Spark, we don’t want any of that to happen to you so here is our quick guide to what you need to know when it comes to CBD product labelling:
- Millilitre (ml) is the volume, or the size of the total mixture of CBD and its carrier oil.
- Milligrams (mg) versus percentage (%) is pointing to how much CBD is in the bottle.
One of the very confusing aspects of CBD labels is the use of percentage numbers to supposedly indicate how much CBD content is contained within the product. We have been told how misleading this can be by a customer who came to us after having negative shopping experience:
She wanted a strong CBD for a serious health issue. She bought a product with a label that said 20% CBD in a 10ml bottle. After Googling how to do the maths, that worked out to be a concentration of 2,000mg of CBD, which is strong.
Upon receiving the bottle and further investigation, it turned out that it was 2,000mg of the whole plant extract, not actual CBD! The CBD was a mere 360mg which makes it, in fact, 3.6% CBD not 20%. She paid a hefty price to receive very little CBD.
What to look for on a CBD product label:
A product on which the label clearly displays the actual milligram (mg) content of CBD. Make sure the mg displayed refers to the actual, active CBD content and not to the hemp oil within the product.
The EU Novel Foods regulation is currently working on standardizing the CBD industry including product labels. The guidelines they are aiming for are as follows:
Each CBD label should have the following:
- mg CBD content should be prominent on the front of the label
- Individual servings for CBD Oil: 1 dropper = X mg
- Use mg as opposed to %
All Life Spark CBD products are listed on the FSA Public List. Only CBD products which are on this Public List are legal to be sold in the UK.
With Life Spark CBD, what you see is what you get and what you get is the highest standard of CBD products. Plus, every order of Life Spark CBD comes with a dosing guide so you can find your optimal dose.
When it comes to buying CBD products, it’s about your quality of life and improving your health and wellbeing so don’t take chances on unreputable products as you will only lose out by paying money for something that doesn’t work.
Always, always, always look for the published lab reports on the company website and steer clear if these are missing as you don’t know what they might be trying to hide. And always focus on products with clear and simple labelling that make it clear what you are getting.
You deserve to know what you are buying, and your body deserves the very best CBD on the UK market. Try Life Spark CBD and experience its health-giving properties. Your quality of life is simply worth it!
*https://phytovistalabs.com/how-bad-is-cbd-oil-mislabelling-in-the-uk/
