With isolate having already been covered as basically refined and purified CBD, on the other side of the spectrum are full spectrum CBD products. Full spectrum can most easily be compared to putting the hemp plant in a juicer. You get not just the CBD, but a variety of other cannabinoids found in the plant, including trace amounts of THC (always <0.3%), each with their own therapeutic properties, that all work synergistically together to be better than just the CBD by itself. However, the trace amounts of THC, while not enough to get you “high”, may still result in a failed drug test for THC depending on how much you take, and how often you take it.
In between isolate and full spectrum, are broad spectrum products. Broad spectrum products are further refined to remove any detectable trace of THC, while still maintaining some amount of the other cannabinoids typically found in full spectrum products, though in lesser amounts comparatively. However, though the THC is in non-detectable range, there is always a chance there may be an extremely tiny amount of THC that is below the threshold of the testing equipment used. It would likely be such a small amount that you have to take very large amounts for it to build up to a level that would cause you to fail a test, but there is a small amount of risk in that regard.
When it comes to quality, isolate products are all relatively the same in terms of the CBD extract used. When it comes to broad and full spectrum, there is a lot more variance.
Full spectrum quality can vary depending on the type of extraction methods used, as well as the quality of the hemp they are extracting from. Certain extraction methods preserve more of the minor cannabinoids than others, and the quality of hemp used can affect the amount of those other minor cannabinoids as well. You can determine this by looking at the 3rd party tested Certificates of Analysis which breaks down what cannabinoids are in the product, and how much of each one is in there. You may see a CBD oil that says “Full Spectrum 1000mg”, and another bottle from a different company saying the same thing, but at a significantly different price point. If you compare the lab reports from each, you may find the cheaper bottle may only have 3 different cannabinoids present, whereas the more expensive one may have 9 cannabinoids or more. This isn’t to say that the cheaper one is a bad product by any means, just that you should not expect the quality to be the same just because both labels say “Full Spectrum”, because they are not all created equal. It is the same way with broad spectrum products. One product may just contain CBD and a trace amount of one other minor cannabinoid, and call themselves “Broad Spectrum”, whereas another may have 4 or 5. This why you should only consider products that have 3rd party tested lab reports readily available. At EV Naturals, we only carry products that have been 3rd party lab tested, and we can provide those reports to all of our customers.