Europe establishes a cautious, low daily intake for CBD. Discover the milligrams per kilogram and what this means for your consumption.
EU Food Agency Sets "Safe" Consumption Level for Hemp-Derived CBD
The European Union's (EU) food safety agency, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announced on February 9 a safe consumption level for cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive cannabinoid found in the cannabis plant. The European Commission considers CBD a novel food under EU legislation on novel foods.
CBD-infused food and drink items include sweets, honey, cookies, cakes, tea and coffee. Unlike THC, CBD is not intoxicating and is known for its potential therapeutic effects, such as reducing anxiety, pain and inflammation.
EFSA’s expert Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens (NDA) set a provisional safe intake level for CBD of 0.0275 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day (approximately 2 mg/day for a 70 kg adult).
That is a comparatively low CBD limit. In Great Britain, it is 10 mg/day and in Switzerland, 12 mg/day. In Canada, users are allowed anywhere from 20 to 200 mg per day.
In the United States, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has declined to regulate CBD, saying it needed explicit authority from Congress to do so. That means there are no national standards on safe and appropriate doses.
States that have enacted legislation around hemp-derived cannabinoids vary in their limits. But one recent study listing five of "the best CBD drinks" found one containing 10 mg of CBD, two containing 20 mg, and two containing 25 mg. These are figures per container, not per day.
EFSA said it erred on the side of caution in setting limit because "the available evidence is incomplete" and because of "uncertainties in the available data."
"Uncertainties remain regarding the kinetic behavior and the effects of long-term consumption of CBD on the liver, neurological functions and the reproductive and immune systems," it noted.
It pointed to three demographic groups for whom it has not established the safety of CBD: people under 25, pregnant and lactating women, and people on various medications. Safe consumption levels could be reassessed as new data becomes available, EFSA said.