Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Students are looking into the composition of CBD products to guarantee that customers receive what they paid for in each dosage.
This summer, Roberto Santos-Torres started testing hemp-derived CBD items for human and animal use. Santos-Torres, a former resident of Puerto Rico, came to SIU as part of the National Science Foundation-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates program.
Students from Tennessee, New Jersey, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and other Illinois programs have lately visited SIU, while few of its students have gone on to study at other institutions.
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According to SIU Carbondale News, the team utilized high-tech analytical equipment to analyze different CBD products and validate their active components, as well as evaluate the correctness of product labeling on hemp-derived CBD products.
Roberto Santos-Torres said in a news release, “I hope this study can clarify the problem that currently exists with the label content of CBD products, and for the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) to be more rigorous with this market.”
Santos-Torres collaborated with SIU academics Mary and Gary Kinsel to test different CBD products using analytical equipment.
His research looked at the labeling accuracy of hemp-derived consumer goods including CBD tinctures for people and pets, CBD gummies, CBD honey, and topical CBD creams.
CBD is produced from cannabis, which is increasingly going legal in more and more places. It is typically marketed as an oil or as a component in other goods. CBD does not provide the same “high” as THC does. It could be used as a pain reliever, stress reducer, and sleep assist.
Mary Kinsel, an associate scientist at SIU’s Office of Sponsored Projects Administration, remarked, “It is troublesome when the public cannot believe that product labeling is truthful.”
Roberto Santos-Torres of Puerto Rico, a chemical engineering and biochemistry student, was trained in practical laboratory skills to assess the five distinct CBD products by her and SIU Vice Chancellor for Research Gary Kinsel.
The FDA, on the other hand, has noted that a number of hemp-derived products do not contain the active chemicals in the quantities stated on the labeling. As a result, standardization in this area is a critical objective.
Santos-Torres utilized liquid chromatography, a UV-vis photodiode array detector, and a mass spectrometer to extract CBD from other constituents in the products. He used standard calibration equations to determine an average quantity of CBD for each item based on evidence from three extractions.
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This term, another SIU physiology student, Chloe Leonard, will proceed with the project. Leonard’s first job is to verify the research team’s extraction methods before moving on to CBD items.
The initial step for Santos-Torres was to make standard solutions of five distinct known CBD concentrations, which served as a kind of baseline for determining the CBD level of consumer products. He did this by making a stock solution with a known CBD content and diluting it to create standards with lower CBD concentrations.
The meticulous effort successfully laid the groundwork for further work to commence this fall, when Chloe Leonard, a senior at SIU majoring in physiology, takes over the project.
