Students at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale are examining the content of CBD products to ensure consumers are getting what they pay for in each dose.
The project was started over the summer by two SIU researchers and a student in the Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation.
The team used high-tech analytical instrumentation to examine various CBD products and verify their active ingredients, while evaluating the accuracy of product labeling on hemp-derived CBD products, according to SIU Carbondale News.
“It is problematic when the public cannot trust that the product labeling is accurate,” said Mary Kinsel, an associate scientist in the Office of Sponsored Projects Administration at SIU.
She along with SIU Vice Chancellor for Research Gary Kinsel, guided their chemical engineering and biochemistry student, Roberto Santos-Torres of Puerto Rico, in practical laboratory skills to evaluate the five different CBD products.
Santos-Torres used liquid chromatography to separate CBD from other components in the products, along with a UV-vis photodiode array detector and a mass spectrometer. He recorded data from three extractions of each product to calculate an average amount of CBD for the products using standard calibration equations.
SIU physiology senior Chloe Leonard is continuing the work this semester. She will also add a goal of determining extraction efficiency to her studies.
