Since the 2018 Farm Bill effectively legalized in the US hemp-derived cannabidiol — better known as CBD — there’s been an exponential growth in products hitting the market, but a study suggests consumer understanding of the products has not kept pace.
The study, “Consumer Confusion About Product Names Commonly Used to Describe Hemp-Based Oils,” was published in the Journal of Consumer Affairs.
“You’ve now got new products on the market that have never been there before, and so there’s a pretty long learning curve for the average consumer,” said Brandon McFadden, professor and researcher of agricultural economics and agribusiness in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
CBD oils go by many names and contain a variety of ingredients. For example, “CBD isolate” only contains CBD, but “full-spectrum CBD” contains other compounds such as terpenes and flavonoids, which can contribute to aroma, flavor and overall therapeutic effects.
Full-spectrum CBD also can contain up to up to 0.3% delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, by weight — the legal threshold set by the federal government for hemp-derived CBD products.
Products with THC levels above this threshold would be classified as marijuana and considered illegal under federal law. THC is known for its psychoactive properties, but there is debate on whether any psychotropic or intoxicating effects are felt for THC levels below 1 percent, McFadden noted.
Considering the many types of CBD products and their distinctions, McFadden led a study surveying consumers to gauge their confusion when it came to product names. Those surveyed completed two product selection tasks. In both selection tasks, consumers chose between CBD isolate, hemp oil, full-spectrum CBD and broad-spectrum CBD, which is a middle ground between the isolate and full-spectrum choices and contains no THC.
In one task, respondents were provided the common name of three CBD oil products, as well as hemp oil, and were asked to imagine they were purchasing 1000-mg CBD oil for themselves or a loved one. In the other task, they were faced with the same choice but were given more information about the products’ contents. The content information included concentration levels of CBD and THC, as well as the presence of additional compounds.
The consumers surveyed included those who had reported previous CBD purchases and those who had not.
McFadden said he was surprised by the study’s finding that there was significant interest in CBD isolate among those surveyed who had not previously used CBD products.
“It did seem like there were consumers who were potentially interested in purchasing CBD, but because there was such a learning curve and a lack of knowledge, they wouldn’t participate in the market,” McFadden said.
The findings also showed that for consumers with a strong preference, it was not easy to identify their preferred product based on product name alone. In fact, some consumers who reported previously purchasing CBD products had difficulty distinguishing between CBD oil types.
Co-authors of the study included Kawsheha Muraleetharan, Benjamin Campbell, Adam Rabinowitz, Tyler Mark, and Michael Popp.
