CBD gummies are one of the most convenient and enjoyable ways of taking cannabidiol, or CBD. They are very discrete and come in a number of flavors, shapes, colors, and concentrations.
Above all, CBD gummies have been proven to effectively treat many serious ailments and to help with chronic stress, anxiety, inflammation, and pain.
Below, you’ll find the ten best CBD gummies on the market, ranked and thoroughly researched by our team.
Research
Rankings
1. Kanibi CBD Gummies
Kanibi’s unbending commitment to excellence and quality is made evident by their Organi Gummies. Manufactured solely with organic ingredients and infused with high-quality CBD distillate, this flavorsome supplement provides precisely 10mg of CBD per serving and only 10 calories.
In Kanibi’s labs, the CBD compound is retrieved using a gold standard CO2 extraction method and undergoes not one but two tests for safety and potency.
If you want to try out the epitome of cleanliness and purity, the Organi Gummies should be your top pick.
2. CBDFx Gummy Bears
These fruit-flavored gummies are the pinnacle of CBD candy treats. Free from GMOs and artificial sweeteners, and made from 100% organically grown hemp, the CBDFx gummies offer broad-spectrum CBD in powerful 25 mg doses.
Exclusively grown and manufactured in the USA, these delicious sweets are great for experienced users who know they need a high dosage.
CBDFx also readily provides third-party certified lab reports which back up all of their claims regarding the product’s quality and purity.
3. CBDistillery Gummies
These gummies are among the most potent CBD Gummies on the market. At a CBD concentration of 30mg per serving, these savory treats are catered towards the more experienced CBD users, who want to feel the effects of the supplement for prolonged periods of time.
CBDistillery’s gummies have no artificial ingredients and contain 100% CBD isolate, making them completely void of THC. They are not only gluten-free and allergen-free but are also vegan and even kosher.
Plus, like the other reputable brands on our list, these gummies are third-party lab tested and certified.
4. PureKana CBD Gummies
PureKana’s CBD gummies are undoubtedly one of the best on the market. They are vegan, GMO-free, include organic ingredients, and most importantly use 99% pure CBD isolate, which makes them almost entirely THC-free.
If you are in doubt of their purity, PureKana offers a certificate of analysis for each new batch of CBD gummies.
The natural, organic flavorings give these bite-sized treats a rich and aromatic flavor.
5. Calm CBD Gummies
These gummies use all-natural, non-GMO, organically grown ingredients. They are virtually sugar-free, contain no gluten, and are formulated by in-house scientists.
The company’s third-party lab reports, which are available on their website, showcase no traces of THC.
Calm offers free shipping and a 30-day money-back guarantee on all of their products.
6. PlusCBD Gummies
PlusCBD gummies are made using full-spectrum hemp extracts without any artificial ingredients.
Available in Cherry Mango and Citrus Punch flavors, each gummy is infused only with naturally-occurring hemp phytonutrients. Aside from CBD, these include fatty acids, phytocannabinoids, terpenes, and vitamin E.
These gummies are gluten-free, non-GMO, and are supported by consistent, uniform certificates of analysis that are readily available online.
7. Joy Organics CBD Gummies
Even though Joy Organics’ CBD gummies aren’t the cheapest, they counterbalance the higher price point by providing extremely high-quality CBD, tested for purity and potency, and sold in BPA-free glass jars.
If you are trying to minimize your involuntary BPA exposure and consumption, these gummies should be your top pick.
Manufactured in the US and made with organic ingredients, these tasty treats contain no corn syrup, unlike some of the cheaper brands.
Joy Organic’s consistent third-party lab testing keeps proving the supreme quality of its products on a regular basis.
8. Lord Jones CBD Gumdrops
Lord Jones CBD gummies are not only made with premium, organic, broad-spectrum, Colorado-grown hemp but are also packaged in high-grade, luxury containers which portray wealth and affluence.
Each gummy contains 20 mg of CBD and is completely THC-free. As with most trusted brands, third-party lab reports are available online and support Lord Jones’ claims for purity and quality.
These gummies are ideal not only for CBD aficionados, who don’t mind spending extra money for a beautiful packaging but also for people looking to buy an “out-of-the-box” gift or birthday present.
9. Infusionz CBD Gummies
Infusionz CBD has created an innovative gummy product that has an AM and PM formula. The AM version is just regular CBD, thus giving you a slight mood-altering effect, whereas the PM version contains CBD and melatonin, therefore helping you have more restorative sleep.
Even though the company is a part of the National Hemp Society and its products are third-party certified, these gummies contain artificial flavors.
If you are looking for affordable CBD gummies which help you sleep and you don’t mind some artificial flavors, this should be your go-to choice.
10. New Age Premium Hemp Gummies
Organic, vegan, and made in the USA, New Age hemp gummies come in doses of 50mg per serving.
Due to being more on the affordable side and having a variety of mouth-watering flavors, these savory delights are for beginners who don’t want to spend too much money and dislike the earthy taste that comes with some other hemp product.
Category winners
Best CBD gummies overall: Kanibi CBD Gummies
Kanibi is our best overall CBD gummy thanks to its simple formulation and versatile 10 mg dosage. At only three grams of sugar, it’s super low in carbs and calories, too.
Best CBD gummies for sleep: Pure Kana CBD Gummies
Pure Kana provides a very solid dose of 25 mg of CBD per gummy, making it good for a fast-acting supplement to ease you into a restful night’s sleep.
Best CBD gummies for anxiety: Kanibi CBD Gummies
The moderate dose of Kanibi CBD Gummies makes them a great choice if you are looking to use CBD to help anxiety. Kanibi makes it easy to modulate your dosage up or down by taking more than one, and rigorously simple ingredients list is an added bonus.
Best CBD gummies for pain: CBDFx Gummy Bears
CBDFx Gummy Bears come in a solid 25 mg dosage, as part of a broader blend of 1500 mg of cannabinoids. For tamping down on pain, this high dosage can do a lot of work for your body.
Best CBD gummies for stress: Kanibi CBD Gummies
Like with anxiety, using the moderate dose of Kanibi CBD Gummies to your advantage lets you dial in the right dose for your stress level—10 mg, 20 mg, 30 mg, or greater doses are all possible, and even at higher doses the sugar and carb content is very low.
Best CBD gummies for inflammation: CBDistillery Gummies
CBDistillery focuses on providing pure CBD in a high dose, which makes it an excellent choice for inflammation. These 30 mg gummies let you harness the natural anti-inflammatory properties of CBD without having to worry about extraneous ingredients.
Who should buy CBD gummies?
As many as 14% of Americans say they use CBD products (6), and 4-6 million Britons claim to have tried cannabidiol (7).
CBD Gummies are ideal for people looking to find a tasty, alternative method of consuming hemp, which can have an earthy, unpleasant taste.
They are also great for beginners and for people who wish to make wellness fun and delicious.
The precise dosing, inconspicuous appearance, and the exceptional ease of use make CBD gummies excellent for people who travel a lot and don’t want to carry relatively cumbersome and inconvenient CBD products, like vapes.
It’s important to note that CBD gummies are generally safe to take, but there may be some risks and side effects.
The most commonly reported side effects are tiredness, diarrhea, gastrointestinal problems, elevated liver enzymes, and changes in appetite/weight (8).
For this reason, people with health conditions affecting the GI tract and the liver should speak with their physician before buying CBD gummies.
Last but not least, the FDA advises against CBD, THC, and marijuana during pregnancy and breastfeeding (9).
How we ranked
Even though Infusionz CBD Gummies have an innovative AM and PM formula, they ended up lower on our list due to the presence of artificial flavors.
Lord Jones CBD Gummies are made with high-quality ingredients, but their exceptionally high price makes them a viable option mainly for the CBD connoisseurs. Therefore, these gummies ended up near the bottom of our list.
Balance CBD Gummies are organic, vegan, gluten-free, and come in two doses of 10mg and 25mg. This makes them a solid choice, but their lab tests are only done for their CBD oils and tinctures, not the actual gummies themselves, which is why we couldn’t rank them any higher.
PlusCBD Gummies are made using full-spectrum hemp extracts but have only two flavors available, which ranked them in the middle of our list.
Calm CBD Gummies use all-natural, non-GMO, organically-grown ingredients but also contain a proprietary blend. Therefore, we cannot rank them higher.
Pure Kana CBD Gummies provide high-quality CBD isolate with low amounts of sugar per serving. Nevertheless, their high CBD dose per serving makes them slightly impractical and places them 4th.
The 3rd place belongs to CBDistillery’s Gummies because they are gluten-free, allergen-free, vegan, Kosher, and contain 100% CBD isolate, making them completely void of THC.
The 2nd place belongs to CBDFx CBD Gummies. They are completely free from GMOs and artificial sweeteners and are made from 100% organically grown hemp. These gummies also come in 5mg doses, which makes them extremely beginner-friendly.
We ranked Kanibi’s Organi Gummies 1st because in the world of CBD, purity, and quality reigns supreme. Kanibi is the only company that retrieves the CBD using a gold standard CO2 extraction method and then makes it undergo not one but two consecutive tests for safety, purity, and potency. This makes it a clear winner.
Benefits
CBD gummies are non-psychotropic. Cannabis is a genus of angiosperms (plants that hold their seeds in the flowers, not the fruits) and belongs to the Cannabaceae family.
It’s origins trace back to antiquity and beyond with evidence suggesting that cannabis has been used as a medicine for religious ceremonies and recreationally more than 5,000 years ago (11).
However, the actual research and empirical inquiry into the pharmacology of individual cannabinoids started in the 1940s, a few decades after the presence of a random cannabinoid was first detected in cannabis (12).
Cannabinol (CBD) was the first of the plant cannabinoids (phytocannabinoids) to be isolated from a red oil extract of cannabis, at the end of the 19th century (13).
Nevertheless, more recently, scientists discovered that CBD is a psychoactive but non-psychotropic (not affecting a person’s mental state) compound, unlike THC, which is both heavily psychoactive and psychotropic.
Therefore, CBD-containing products, like CBD gummies, can have a lot of potential benefits without any mind-altering side effects.
CBD gummies may help with anxiety. From an evolutionary standpoint, fear and anxiety are positive adaptive responses that help us adequately manage potential dangers and threats, thus, increasing the chances of our survival.
However, excessive, disproportionate, unrestricted, or persistent anxiety and fear may be maladaptive, hence, leading to irrational behavior or chronic disability.
Symptoms arising from excessive fear and anxiety occur in a number of neuropsychiatric disorders, including but not limited to generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder (PD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (14).
CBD exhibits various therapeutic and medicinal properties for a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders arising from CNS (central nervous system) disruption (15), (16).
Over the last few years, CBD was consistently proven to be a compound that adequately mimics the desirable effects of anxiolytics (anti-anxiety and anti-panic medications) (17), (18).
CBD positively interacts with several brain receptors (cannabinoid type 1 receptor (CB1R), the serotonin 5-HT1A receptor, and the transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) receptor) which regulate fear and anxiety-related behaviors (19), (20), (21).
The preclinical evidence decisively illustrates CBD’s efficacy in minimizing fear and anxiety arising from disorders such as PTSD, GAD, PD, OCD, and SAD, with a notable lack of anxiogenic (anxiety-producing) side effects.
Furthermore, human experimental findings support the preclinical findings and also showcase CBD’s lack of anxiogenic effects, minimal sedative effects, and its excellent safety profile (22).
Finally, all human studies strongly support CBD’s potential as a treatment for anxiety disorders: at oral doses ranging from 300 to 600 mg (23).
CBD gummies may help with learned fears and phobias. Even though anxiety and fear are very closely linked, there is a slightly different psychological condition called “learned fear,” which includes mainly phobias and PTSD to an extent.
In both phobias and post-traumatic stress disorders, there is substantial debilitating fear and persistent paralyzing memories of a place, situation, object, or some other visual and auditory cues.
For conditions like this, the main treatment is a psychological technique called “exposure therapy”. However, due to its short-lasting positive effects and alarmingly low success rate, scientists were coerced to look for alternative methods.
The empirical data extracted from human and animal studies suggest that CBD alleviates deeply-rooted, innate, contextual fears, such as phobias.
It does that in three different ways: Cannabidiol minimizes the perceptual and cognitive biases, thus substantially reducing fear expression (25); Cannabidiol interrupts the involuntarily trigger-memory retrieval pattern which, if not stopped, would lead to increased fear (26); Cannabidiol improves the positive effects of exposure therapy and increases its success rate (27).
The inference from this data is that cannabidiol could function as a novel but viable therapeutic compound which not only treats learned fears and trauma-related disorders but also enhances the effectiveness of exposure therapy.
CBD gummies may help with pain and inflammation. Whenever there is some sort of tissue damage, an infection, or a sudden genetic alteration within the body, pain, and inflammation immediately emerge (28).
That’s how the body responds to a sudden disruption of its homeostasis (the state of physical and chemical balance).
This response can be divided into acute (sudden) and chronic (persistent) phases.
The acute phase starts immediately after the trauma/injury and elicits increased localized blood flow that brings additional fluids, proteins, and inflammatory mediators (e.g., cytokines, lymphokines, and histamine) all of which cause pain to varying degrees (29).
If the trauma/injury isn’t quickly resolved, the pain can eventually subside, but the inflammation may continue indefinitely, which is known as subacute/chronic inflammation (30).
In simple terms, if you somehow damage your body and don’t let it heal properly, it can result in persistent inflammation, swelling, discomfort, and pain. Here is where CBD comes in handy.
Studies have shown that CBD can work wonders in reducing pain and chronic inflammation by binding to the pain receptors in the body and interacting with certain neurotransmitters (31).
Another human study further proves that the daily use of CBD-rich hemp extract can yield fantastic results amongst people with chronic pain.
CBD not only acts as an effective analgesic (pain-alleviating compound) but also helps opioid users overcome their physiological withdrawal symptoms (32).
Moreover, a combination of CBD and THC can drastically reduce the pain during movement and pain during sleep amongst rheumatoid arthritis patients (33).
CBD gummies may have anti-cancer effects. In recent years, cannabinoids have been thoroughly researched and analyzed for their potential anticarcinogenic properties and cancer symptom-management effects (34).
The first study, which analyzed the anti-neoplastic (tumor-inhibiting) activity of cannabinoids, was published in 1975 and showcased that both CBD and THC have the capability of slowing down the progression of leukemia in mice (35).
A more recent study examined the effects of THC and CBD in people who suffered from cancer-related pain but couldn’t get better with traditional anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals.
The research showed that a combination of CBD and THC had far greater pain-reducing properties than stand-alone THC or placebo (36).
Additionally, CBD has been proven to significantly inhibit prostate cancer cell viability and proliferation (37).
What is more, CBD induced programmed cell death in breast cancer cells by enhancing the body’s natural cell mechanisms which remove unnecessary or dysfunctional components (38).
Finally, supplementing with CBD may improve the overall effectiveness of glioblastoma (aggressive brain cancer) treatment (39).
Overall, the cancer-related CBD benefits seem very promising. However, due to the immense complexity and unpredictability of cancer, it’s still too early to accurately gauge CBD’s long-term success rate and safety.
CBD gummies may have neurological benefits. Numerous psychological benefits have been attributed to the phytocannabinoids CBD and THC. They interact uniquely with the human endocannabinoid system (ECS).
The ECS is a specialized biological system composed of endocannabinoids that are involved in regulating our metabolism, appetite, sleep, immune response, brain function, and more (40).
CBD has been proven, both in animal and human studies, to have a wide range of medicinal and therapeutic properties for maintaining and protecting brain function.
CBD has neuroprotective and antidepressant qualities because it is able to decrease the production of inflammatory cytokines (small proteins that are important in cell signaling), preserve cerebral circulation during ischemic (lack of blood supply) events, reduce vascular changes and decrease neuroinflammation (41).
Interestingly, the most well-researched and documented uses of CBD are in treating and managing neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. Although the empirical findings in this area are still quite new and limited, several studies have shown promising results.
The data suggests that a combination of CBD and THC with a ratio of 1:1 reduces the pain and muscle tightness in people with multiple sclerosis which can result in improved mobility (42).
Also, people with multiple sclerosis have higher rates of depression, which further exacerbates the lack of mobility. Due to the antidepressant properties of CBD, it can indirectly result in an improved need for movement and mobility (43).
In parallel with the multiple sclerosis research, in the last few decades, studies have been done to investigate the potential effects of CBD in the management of epilepsy. Most results indicate that CBD is highly effective in the treatment of epilepsy and especially drug-resistant epilepsy (44).
Side effects
Even though the side effects of CBD gummies are rare, the most commonly reported ones include tiredness, diarrhea, and changes in appetite/weight (45).
In some unusual instances and with higher doses, CBD gummies can exhibit signs of hepatotoxicity (liver damage). This raises some concerns about the long-term safety of all CBD gummy products (46).
Nonetheless, you must always consult your doctor first before taking any CBD gummy products, as it might interfere with other supplements and medications.
Recommended dose
CBD gummies are well tolerated in humans with doses up to 600 mg, not resulting in psychotic symptoms (47).
However, the amount of CBD gummies you should ingest depends on your age, gender, height, weight, the condition/illness you are trying to treat, and your individual genetic makeup.
That is to say, there are a lot of moving pieces when deciding what dosage of CBD gummies you should buy and how many per day you should eat. For this reason, you should always consult your doctor first. Strictly follow their advice and don’t veer off course in order not to experience side effects.
If your doctor doesn’t give any recommendations, you should always start with the smallest CBD gummy dose possible and gradually increase it until you feel that your symptoms/conditions are being successfully managed.
A good idea is to begin with 10mg of CBD gummies in the morning and 10 mg of CBD gummies at night, equating to a total of 20 mg a day. If this isn’t working for you, start increasing the dosage by 5mg until you feel the desired effect.
FAQ
What are CBD Gummies? Although CBD gummies look identical to ordinary gummy bears, they have one major difference. CBD gummies contain cannabidiol (CBD).
Cannabidiol is one of 113 active chemical compounds (or ‘cannabinoids’) in the cannabis plant. Usually, THC is the most abundant cannabinoid, but CBD comes in at a close second.
Due to their cannabidiol content, CBD gummies have been demonstrated to successfully treat many serious diseases and to help with chronic stress, anxiety, inflammation, and pain.
How many CBD Gummies should I take a day? Well, this entirely depends on the brand you purchased. Some CBD gummies have 5 mg of CBD per serving, others 30 mg.
A rule of thumb is to first take as little CBD gummies as possible, and if your symptoms don’t improve, slowly increase the dose until you achieve the desired effect.
A beginner-friendly recommendation is to take 10 mg of CBD gummies in the morning and 10 mg at night.
Are CBD gummies the best way to take CBD? Yes, CBD gummies are regarded as the most convenient and user-friendly way of taking CBD.
The tremendous amounts of online social proof, excellent customer reviews, and 5-star ratings speak for themselves. Their popularity has skyrocketed in the last few years, and people love the ease of use they provide.
How should I store my CBD gummies? You should store your CBD gummies in a dark, dry, and cool place, i.e., pantry or cupboard.
The active ingredient in CBD gummies, cannabidiol, lasts the longest when stored in these conditions.
You can also store them in the foremost part of your fridge, just don’t keep them at the back because they might freeze.
Are CBD gummies made from marijuana or hemp? Most of all, CBD gummy products come from the industrial hemp plant, not marijuana.
Hemp and marijuana are not the same thing but are very similar. They both belong to the ‘cannabis’ genus, kind of like onion and leek are two different vegetables but belong to the ‘Liliaceae’ genus.
However, CBD can be found abundantly in both hemp and marijuana.
In the hemp plant, CBD is dispersed throughout the whole of the stem and the buds. In marijuana, CBD is only located in the stem and the seeds, not the flowering buds.
In theory, every cannabis plant that has less than 0.3% THC is considered hemp, and more than 0.3% is considered marijuana.
Will CBD gummies make me feel high? Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychotropic substance, which means that it doesn’t affect your mental state (48).
People describe CBD gummies as “relaxing but not intoxicating,” unlike THC-based products, which can cause paranoia, anxiety, and euphoria.
Nonetheless, always start with the lowest dose possible and gradually build up to avoid any unwanted side effects.
Do CBD gummies contain THC? According to Federal Law, CBD products must contain less than 0.3% THC to be legal (49).
Therefore, if you are buying your CBD products from a reputable company with legitimate third-party lab testing, then you will not accidentally ingest THC.
Will CBD gummies make me fail a drug test? If you are buying a high-quality CBD gummies product from a reputable company with third-party certifications and a lot of excellent reviews, then it’s highly unlikely for THC to show up on your drug test.
However, low-quality CBD gummies can contain not only more THC than what the company claims but other contaminants that can make you fail a drug test.
Research has shown that people who consume 6 mg of THC per day have a 25% chance of failing a drug test (50). This translates to about 2,000 mg of CBD gummies per day with a THC content of 0.3% or less.
Therefore to fail a drug test due to CBD gummy consumption, you would have to eat 1 kg net weight of CBD gummies with 5 mg of CBD per serving to ingest that much total CBD, which, of course, is extremely dangerous and absolutely unnecessary.
What’s the difference between full-spectrum, broad-spectrum, and isolate CBD Gummies? Well, these are the three types of CBD you can find on the market today, but how do they differ?
CBD isolate undergoes a number of different distillation and purification processes that strip down and remove virtually all the other compounds found in the hemp plant, leaving only pure uncontaminated and unadulterated CBD behind.
On the other hand, full-spectrum and broad-spectrum CBD are rather similar because they both leave all the natural compounds of the hemp plant intact.
Full-spectrum CBD includes all the naturally-occurring phytochemicals found in cannabis (essential oils, terpenes and trace amounts of other cannabinoids) plus a negligible THC content (anywhere from 0% to 0.3%)
Broad-spectrum is exactly the same. It contains all of the above mentioned naturally-occurring goodies of the hemp plant but has a strict 0% THC content.
In Layman’s terms: Broad-spectrum CBD contains CBD, other cannabinoids, and phytochemicals but no THC. Full-spectrum CBD contains CBD, other cannabinoids and phytochemicals, and small amounts of THC.
Can I give my pets CBD gummies? Most likely, yes, but make sure you buy CBD gummies made exclusively for pets.
Animals, just like humans, can greatly benefit from CBD for many of the same reasons, i.e., anxiety, pain, inflammation, seizures, etc. Even though CBD is safe for pets, the dosage will likely be much smaller than that for humans.
Interestingly, dogs have a much higher concentration of cannabinoid receptors in their brain, which means that a very small amount of CBD or THC will be beneficial, but higher quantities can affect them in unfavorable ways.
For this reason, we recommend you speak with a holistic veterinarian before giving your pet any CBD or THC products.
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Recap
The popularity of CBD gummies has skyrocketed in the last few years and rightfully so. These non-psychotropic savory treats can work wonders for many serious conditions, such as multiple sclerosis and epilepsy, and can help people who have lost hope in traditional pharmaceuticals.
On the other hand, CBD gummies can also help with more frequently experienced problems like anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, lack of appetite, pain, and inflammation. Many athletes and high-performing people swear by them.
People prefer to take CBD gummies because of their exceptional practicality, convenience, and inconspicuous nature. Most gummies contain between 5mg and 30mg of CBD, resulting in a mellow mood-enhancing effect that will not cause euphoria or excessive drowsiness.
If you have any of the aforementioned conditions or you are just looking for something that will help you relax after a long day, adding a CBD gummy product to your daily regimen can greatly improve your quality of life.
For BodyNutrition’s #1 recommended CBD gummies, click here.
