Looking for the best 5% CBD oil? We’ve tried and tested all CBD brands on the market and have hand-picked what we consider to be the best 5% CBD oils in the UK, based on their efficacy, taste and value for money.
Best 5% CBD Oils
CBD oil has grown in popularity over the last few years, due to its interaction with the Endocannabinoid System (ECS), resulting in several health benefits including pain relief, alleviating insomnia, lowering stress levels, reducing anxiety and depression, fighting the side effects of cancer medications or reducing seizures in patients with epilepsy.
Yet with over 150 CBD brands on the market, it can be difficult to choose a 5% CBD oil to match your personal needs. This is why the CBD Unboxed team has tried and tested over 150 different CBD oils available in the UK, with a focus on 5 percent oils, and assessed them across 3 key areas:
- Efficacy
- Taste
- Value for Money
So out of the hundreds of brands we tried and tested, which 5% CBD oils made it into our Top 10? Let’s find out!
By testing over 150 different CBD brands and assessing their efficacy, taste, value for money, we’ve been able to hand-pick the best 5% CBD oils in the UK.
What is CBD Oil?
CBD oil (also known as Cannabidiol) is made from two ingredients:
- CBD extract: CBD extracts come from the stalk, stems, leaves and flowers of the hemp plant, which contain high amounts of active, therapeutic cannabinoids. However the CBD extracts used for 10% CBD oils will not “get you high” as the Home Office has set clear directives for the UK market and “only issues licences for cultivation of plants from approved seed types with a THC content not exceeding 0.2%“. This means that CBD oil is essentially non-psychoactive.
- An oil carrier: The CBD extract is mixed in different concentrations with an oil carrier. The three main oil carriers used to produce 5% CBD oils are hempseed oil, olive oil and MCT oil (coconut oil)
What are the Benefits of 5% CBD Oils?
Whilst CBD in the UK has been classified as a “Novel Food”, and is therefore not a medicine prescribed to treat specific conditions, 5 percent CBD oils have been proven to have a number of therapeutic benefits.
The human body contains a specialized system called the ECS (the endocannabinoid system), which aim is to regulate a variety of functions such as sleep, appetite, pain and immune system response. The body also produces endocannabinoids, which are simply neurotransmitters that bind to cannabinoid receptors in your nervous system.
CBD is believed to interact with specific receptors, specifically the CB1R and CB2R.
- CB1 receptors, which are located in various regions of the body, with a large concentration in the central nervous system and brain, co-ordinate mood, emotion, appetite, and other functions.
- CB2 receptors are more commonly found in the immune system and are responsible for controlling inflammation and pain. CBD stimulates these receptors and induces the body to release serotonin.
Serotonin, or 5-HT, is a neurotransmitter that carries signals from one neuron to the other. CBD increases the level of serotonin, which, in return, helps reduce pain, reduce inflammation as well as provide a range of other health benefits, which include:
- CBD for Pain Relief: CBD has analgesic (pain relief) properties and can help with many painful conditions such as arthritis, headache disorders, migraines, back pain or period pain.
- CBD for Sleep: CBD has a calming effect on both the mind and the body, allowing people to fall asleep more easily and stay asleep throughout the night.
- CBD for Stress: CBD helps reduce stress and calm both the body and mind, through its interaction with both the Hippocampus and the Amygdala.
- CBD for Anxiety: CBD has both anti-anxiety and antidepressant properties, and can be a great alternative to anxiety medications which have known side-effects.
- CBD for Headaches: CBD reduces the frequency of headaches as well as reduce stress and improve sleep, two major triggers of headaches. But CBD also has strong analgesic (pain relief) and antiemetic (prevent vomiting) properties which can help people with headache disorders during an attack.
- CBD for Arthritis: CBD has antiarthritic, analgesic (pain relief) as well as anti-inflammatory properties and as such is a great option for people suffering from arthritis.
- CBD for Cancer: CBD helps relieve some of the symptoms of cancer as well as reducing the side of effects of cancer medication such as nausea, vomiting and pain.
- CBD for Epilepsy: CBD helps reduce the frequency and intensity of seizures in epileptic patients, and may also counteract some of the side effects of traditional anti-epileptic.
CBD Oil Concentration Matters
Too often people buy CBD without truly understanding how much product they should consume based on their personal symptoms and body composition. For instance, a 90kgs (200 pounds) male using CBD oil to treat a painful condition such as hip arthritis will usually require a higher daily dose of CBD than a 55kgs (120 pounds) female using the same product for stress or insomnia.
Step 1: How Much CBD Should You Consume Daily?
CBD doesn’t have one-size-fits-all dosing and calculating a proper dosage of CBD can be tough as our bodies react to it differently. The four major factors affecting your CBD dosage are:
- Your weight
- The condition being treated (i.e. depression, chronic pain etc)
- The severity of your condition
- The concentration of CBD oil
Most brands recommend customers start with the lowest dose and increase until they find the right serving size that fits their needs. The most common starting amount is between 10mg and 25mg. For anxiety and depression, the dose can vary from 20mg to 50mg or more.
As a rule of thumb, a person weighting between 10.5 and 17 stones (approximately 150 and 240 lbs) may need between 20mg and 40mg of CBD per day depending on the severity of their symptoms.
When using CBD for the first time, we would always recommend taking it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach to see how your body reacts. If you are not seeing any major benefits with a single drop, increase your intake by a single drop every 2 or 3 days until finding the right balance to treat your personal symptoms.
With CBD becoming an ever growing market, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has classified CBD as a food supplement and issued a number of recommendations on its website. For healthy adults, the FSA recommends not to take more than 70mg a day, unless it has been advised by a doctor. To put this into perspective, this is about 20 drops of 5% CBD or 5 drops of 20% CBD. This advice is based on the latest scientific information available to the FSA and levels given are for an average 70kg adult so one could deduct that the FSA has set a maximum target of 1mg of CBD per kg of bodyweight.
However, it is worth noting that several studies have found CBD to be safe at higher doses.
Step 2: Understand the Concentration of CBD Oil
Most bottles of CBD oil contain 10ml of product and come in strengths ranging from 100mg to 2,500mg – also known as 1% and 25% CBD oils. This simply means that for the same amount of liquid (e.g. 10ml), the amount of CBD extract, and therefore the strength of the CBD oi, will vary greatly.
In the case of a 1% CBD oil, 1ml of liquid will give you 10mg of CBD, whilst the same 1ml of the 2,500mg bottle will give you 25 times that amount for a total of 250mg.
If your aim is to consume 25mg of CBD daily, you would need 2.5ml of the 1% CBD oil (about 1/4 of the bottle), whereas you would only need 0.1ml of the 25% CBD oil (about 1/100 of the bottle).
So when buying CBD oil, it is important to understand the concentration of the oil, as it will help you determine how many drops you should use daily to hit your target.
Step 3: Calculate How Many Drops of 5% CBD Oil You Need
Assuming you want to ingest 25mg of CBD per day with a 10ml bottle, you would need to take approximately 20 drops of a 5% CBD oil to hit that target. The below table shows the impact of the concentration of the product on the total number of CBD drops you need to take to hit 25mg daily:
| CBD / Bottle | CBD / Drop | # Drops |
| 100mg (1%) | 0.25mg | 100 drops |
| 500mg (5%) | 1.25mg | 20 drops |
| 1000mg (10%) | 2.5mg | 10 drops |
| 1500mg (15%) | 3.75mg | 7 drops |
| 2000mg (20%) | 5.0mg | 5 drops |
| 2500mg (25%) | 6.25mg | 4 drops |
Best 5% CBD Oils
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- 10ml per bottle (500mg of CBD)
- 5% concentration
- Approx 2mg of CBD per drop
- Full spectrum CBD
- Less than 0.2% THC
- Hemp seed oil carrier
- Entourage effect
- 10ml bottle (500mg of CBD)
- 5% concentration
- Approx 1.25mg of CBD per drop
- Broad spectrum CBD
- Zero THC
- Organic MCT carrier oil
- Entourage effect
- 10ml per bottle (500mg of CBD)
- 5% concentration
- Full spectrum CBD
- Less than 0.2% THC
- Cold press hemp oil carrier
- Entourage effect
- 10ml per bottle (500mg of CBD)
- 5% concentration
- Approx 2.5mg of CBD per drop
- Full spectrum CBD
- Less than 0.02% THC
- Hemp oil carrier
- Entourage effect
- 30ml bottle (1500mg of CBD)
- 5% concentration
- Approx 1.25mg of CBD per drop
- Broad-spectrum CBD
- Zero THC
- Hemp Seed oil carrier
- Entourage effect
- 10ml per bottle
- 500mg of CBD per bottle (5%)
- Approx 1.25mg of CBD per drop
- Broad-spectrum CBD (Zero THC)
- Orange Flavour
- MCT oil carrier
- Entourage effect
- 30ml bottle (1500mg of CBD)
- 5% concentration
- Approx 1.25mg of CBD per drop
- Broad spectrum CBD
- Zero THC
- Organic MCT carrier oil
- Entourage effect
- 10ml bottle (500mg of CBD)
- 5% concentration
- Approx 2mg of CBD per drop
- Broad spectrum CBD (THC free)
- Organic MCT carrier oil
- Entourage effect
- Suitable for vegans
- 30ml per bottle (1500mg of CBD)
- 5% concentration
- Approx 5mg of CBD per spray
- Broad spectrum CBD
- Zero THC
- MCT oil carrier
- Entourage effect
Blessed CBD
Blessed CBD Oil 500mg (5%)
£44.95
Bud & Tender CBD
Bud & Tender CBD Oil 500mg (5%)
£45.00
Canna Union
Canna Union CBD Oil 500mg (10ml)
£22.91
Hempura CBD
Hempura CBD Oil 500mg (5%)
£36.99
Honest Hemp
Honest Hemp CBD Oil 1500mg (5%)
£59.99
Honest Hemp
Honest Hemp Orange CBD Oil 500mg (5%)
£19.99
Bud & Tender CBD
Bud & Tender CBD Oil 1500mg (5%)
£120.00
Naturecan CBD
Naturecan CBD Oil 500mg (5%)
£29.99
VAAY CBD
VAAY CBD Oil 1500mg (5%)
£89.90
The Different Types of CBD
Whilst this may sound confusing at first, there are essentially three different types of CBD products on the market. each product contains slightly different compounds due to the extraction and filtration process the CBD extracts have gone through. The presence or absence of certain compounds – such as THC – is important as it can influence how your body reacts to the CBD oil.
These products are known as full-spectrum, broad-spectrum and CBD isolate. Let’s take a look at each type of CBD to understand the main differences.
Full-spectrum CBD
Full-spectrum CBD oil is the most natural formulation available.
As the name suggests, it combines all the all-natural hemp extracts of the hemp plant such as CBD (Cannabidiol), CBDv (Cannabidivarin), CBG (Cannabigerol), CBC (Cannabichromene) and CBT (Cannabicitran), as well as the naturally-occurring terpenes, flavonoids, and Omega acids.
Full-spectrum CBD products also contain THC (Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol), which is recognised as a psychoactive substance. However, UK regulations are very specific and limit the amount of THC in hemp plants used to produce CBD oils to 0.2%, meaning that CBD oils won’t get you high as we are only talking about trace amounts of THC.
This makes full-spectrum CBD oil as close to the natural make-up of the hemp as possible because no additional extraction is performed. As a result, full-spectrum CBD oil is often considered to be the most effective type of CBD oil.
Broad-spectrum CBD
Unlike the full spectrum formulation, broad-spectrum CBD oils go through an additional extraction process whose aim is to remove plant waxes, chlorophyll as well as any THC, meaning that broad-spectrum CBD oils are THC-free.
This extra filtration process has two key benefits:
- Better taste: By removing the unwanted plant waxes and chlorophyll, broad-spectrum tend to have a less earthy or grassy taste when compared to full-spectrum CBD oils and are therefore more palatable.
- THC-free: By removing the THC, broad-spectrum CBD oils become the perfect product for athletes or those going through regular drug tests, such as people in the military or armed forces.
CBD isolate
This type of CBD oil has gone through an extensive filtration process to remove all plant compounds such as CBG (Cannabigerol), CBC (Cannabichromene), CBT (Cannabicitran) or THC (Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol), to keep only a single compound called Cannabidiol (CBD).
This type of oil is usually 99.9% concentrated CBD and contains no other cannabinoids, terpenes, or essential fatty acids. This type of CBD oil is often considered less effective than full or broad-spectrum CBD oils as it does not benefit from the ‘Entourage Effect’. More on this below.
The “Entourage Effect”
The entourage effect is the theory that while each botanical compound has a unique role or benefit, its behaviour may change when the presence of another compound is present.
For example, it would be more effective and quicker to produce a play with a team of actors rather than one actor playing all the parts. When each actor has a specific role to focus on, they can learn their lines and direction and support their fellow actors. But one actor alone will take a lot longer to learn their role and may have bouts of low self-esteem.
This is similar to the entourage effect. Essentially, everyone knows their role, but their performance can be enhanced by comradery, which in the end makes for a great night out to the theatre.
But how is this applied to CBD?
CBD Entourage
We know that CBD products stimulate the Endocannabinoid System and make it work more efficiently. But different CBD products affect the ECS differently, depending on its formulation. As previously, discussed there are 3 types of CBD formulation:
- Full-spectrum: No additional extraction, contains all the natural ingredients of the hemp plant, including CBD, THC, terpenes and flavonoids.
- Broad-spectrum: All traces of THC are removed from the oil. Every other ingredient remains.
- CBD Isolate: The oil only contains CBD, everything else is removed.
One of the above formulations has been proven to give better results in reducing pain, inflammation and many other symptoms. Which one of these formulations do you think stimulates the ECS best?
Would it be the most natural substance (full-spectrum), the one with any psychoactive ingredients (broad-spectrum) or the purest form of CBD (isolate)?
According to the entourage effect, it is the full-spectrum CBD because it keeps all the natural components of the hemp plant.
Cannabinoids and Terpenes
The theory of the entourage effect was first introduced by Dr Ethan B. Russo. He thinks that cannabinoids such as CBD and THC work with terpenes (aromatic component) to produce a “synergy.”
In his study “Taming THC: Potential cannabis synergy and phytocannabinoid-terpenoid entourage effects” (2010) Dr Ethan B Russo suggests:
- The terpene pinene, which gives the scent of pine, may help counteract compromised memory caused by THC.
- CBD and terpene limonene, which gives a citrus scent, might work together to alleviate anxiety.
- A combination of CBD and terpene caryophyllene, offering a pepper smell, may be beneficial in the treatment of addiction.
The possibility of “synergy” of endless but have not yet been categorically proven. For more information read his other study “The Case for the Entourage Effect and Conventional Breeding of Clinical Cannabis: No “Strain, No Gain” published in 2019.
Omega-3, Antioxidants and Nutrients
In addition to CBD, THC and terpenes, full-spectrum CBD oil also contains Omega-3, which is vital to the ECS. Omega-3 is used to maintain the receptor CB1, which regulate pain and memory.
It also aids the absorption of external cannabinoids, as well as making endocannabinoids internally.
Other nutrients and antioxidants have also been discovered in full-spectrum CBD oil, for example, Vitamin E. Vitamin E is a fat-soluble compound that can prevent cataract formation, postpone the appearance of wrinkles and grey hair, boosts the immune system and reduces inflammation.
As you can see CBD oil when first extracted from the hemp plant has a huge list of ingredients. All of them seem to play a part in helping our bodies. We may not know exactly what they all do. But as time passes and research continues, we can learn more.
Advantages of 5% CBD Oils
Whilst buying 5% CBD oils may look more expensive than lower concentration products, there are a number of benefits of going for a higher concentration:
- Less Drops – By going for a 5% CBD oil instead of a lower concentration such as a 1% oil, you can get your daily CBD intake with less drops, which makes it more practical on a day to day basis.
- Better Value for Money – Whilst the price of a 5% oil is more expensive than a lower concentration product, it is rarely proportionate to the amount of CBD extract in the bottle. For instance, a 2.5% CBD oil might cost £20 whilst a 5% oil might cost £30 which would make most people lean towards the cheaper option. However, when looking at value for money the 2.5% oil works out at £0.08 per mg of CBD whilst the 5% oil is far cheaper at £0.06. So going for the higher potency oil will usually work out cheaper in the long run.
Best CBD Oils Compared
If you are still not sure about what 5% CBD oil to choose, why not check-out our CBD oil reviews below or take our CBD Quiz which has been designed specifically to identify the product and strength that is best suited to your personal needs:
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