Liquid Health Labs and PowerCap® provide solutions for cannabis dosing

Dosing is the cannabis industry’s biggest problem. Amid the boom in legalised cannabis and associated products, dosing is proving to be the biggest challenge facing the cannabis industry.

With hundreds of strains and dozens of not precise delivery mechanisms, how can consumers know that they’re consistently getting the exact amount of CBD or THC each body tolerates? Surprisingly, the best answer may be to drink it. Liquid Health Labs, Inc (LHL) has developed a precise dosing pod of water-soluble active ingredients (either CBD or THC) which avoid degradation during distribution and dissolve easily into liquid.

With legalisation comes much greater government regulation, as well as higher consumer expectations in terms of both safety and quality. For nearly 15 years, LHL’s business has developed and produced precise dosing and infusion technology for beverage, health and wellness, and lab ingredients to consistently provide solutions. The company’s proprietary delivery mechanism – patented in North America, Europe and Asia – delivers consistent, reliable dosing of CBD and THC through PowerCap®.

The PowerCap technology family of products offers a significant competitive advantage.

What about taste? LHL addresses that issue as well, with all natural flavours, sweeteners and colours in mixed berry, lemonade and watermelon varieties. PowerCap technology fits quickly and easily on multiple types of water bottles; it’s also available for use with various styles of reusable water bottles. PowerCap snaps onto the top of the bottle, then the active ingredients are released into the beverage, where it easily dissolves with a quick shake.

Wondering if it works? LHL has proven the model in dispensaries in the United States, selling tens of thousands of units in a recent market test. “The response was overwhelmingly positive,” says Liquid Health Labs CEO, Derek Hopkins. “Consumers are already familiar with products like K-Cups® for coffee and tea, so much of the heavy lifting is done for the pod concept.”

In addition to CBD and THC, LHL offers a single serve pod product with a similar distribution model for health and wellness: PowerCap Nutrition Pods™. Combined with the Universal PowerCap, LHL’s unique beverage delivery pod provides a convenient, on-the-go option for CBD and THC which offers another unique benefit: zero active ingredient degradation.

Limiting degradation

Most enhanced beverage manufacturers batch and hot fill their products at 185°F to 192°F to prevent bacterial growth. However, heat, light and liquid degrade most ingredients. “It’s very difficult to maintain stability in a liquid. It’s a battle getting finished products claims correct during production at scale, as well as maintaining stability over the life of the product. Stability is one key solution addressed with PowerCap,” Hopkins says.

Precise dosing for suppliers helps limit degradation and increase stability, limits cost of ingredient overages, distributes beverages without the cost of shipping liquids, offers ingredients not stable in liquids expanding product opportunities; and sets the bar for meeting label claims.

For patients and consumers, a precise dosage is difficult to control with edibles, and this is also an industry dosing problem: when negative effects outweigh and threaten medical intent. Therefore, consuming precise dosages of THC and CBD helps to minimise what we define as ‘misconsumption’ (optimum intake varies based on individual medical needs and tolerances). When consumers have confidence in the dosage of ingredients on the label, products and brands gain valuable consumer credibility.

Third party testing

LHL engaged in a study with Ohio State University’s Department of Food Science and Technology to investigate ingredient degradation using PowerCap technology compared with hot filled produced enhanced beverages. The results revealed steep degradation in the hot fill product, while indicating excellent chemical stability with PowerCap technology.

Protecting the integrity of the ingredients and product offering is key to a sustainable business, especially as it relates to cannabis. “PowerCap is successful in delivering liquids, water-soluble powders, and nanotechnology-based liquids,” says Hopkins.

Sustainable packaging and greener products

PowerCap technology focuses on designing caps to pair with reusable bottles and selling programmes. Our development will continue around the theme of reusable and refillable packaging. PowerCap uses 100% recyclable plastic; and we expect to use hemp plastic within the year. Reduced manufacturing costs are about reducing the carbon footprint.

Compared to a ready-to-drink (RTD) beverage – such as Gatorade® or VitaminWater®, Powercap bypasses the hot fill process and its required energy consumption, reducing all production overages for ingredients and the need for continually produced heavier plastic bottles.

LHL’s current sustainable development revolves around shifting to a hemp-derived resin; while consumers may take advantage of our free ship-back programme after the purchase and collection of 50 or more caps.

How can cannabis suppliers take advantage of the PowerCap?

For our medical marijuana and CBD strategic partners, LHL is actively negotiating state-by-state and country-by-country licensing deals. LHL is leveraging existing and future R&D efforts to expand product offerings and offer its partners a product with a patented, unique point of difference.

PowerCap is valuable to the medical side, as the technology offers patients an option to drink a beverage that tastes good and can deliver medical grade dosing.

For manufacturers

LHL designs and builds low cost portable filling equipment specifically for the cannabis industry.

LHL’s cannabis offerings range from licensing existing brands and technology to strategic partnerships where R&D and production are conducted at its facilities, to providing a full turnkey solution: offering a concept, ingredient development, manufacturing and finished product.

“Our company owns intellectual property and a broad range of industry with knowhow of market ready products from concept through finished production,” says Hopkins. “LHL sustains its competitive advantage through continued patent innovations globally, along with the ability to apply our technology in a wide range of applications and CPG [consumer packaged goods] markets.”

Future innovations with terpenes; dosing; and addressing health issues

In addition to CBD and THC, LHL successfully experimented using terpenes with the continued development of relevant terpenes like CBN and CBG. Beyond this, LHL continues development with physicians on a supplement and cannabis regiment which helps balance the nervous system for cannabis patients.

Cannabis and the autonomic nervous system

LHL develops products for and works with physicians who own patented technology around the autonomic nervous system and are conducting tests related to the effects of cannabis and individual dosing. Health issues from cannabis relating particularly to precise dosing are largely unknown, tests are available to help.

Research demonstrates that overstimulation of the cannabinoid receptors impacts physiological and psychological conditions including depression, anxiety, cardiovascular failure, rapid gastrointestinal motility, immune system suppression, chronic fatigue, ‘brain fog’, cognitive and memory difficulties, persistent weight gain, chronic headache and migraine, blood pressure management, blood glucose levels, and hormone levels; among others.

One well known morbidity risk is cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome: an increasingly prevalent diagnosis from mainstream physicians observing persistent nausea, frequent vomiting (emesis), and severe, persistent intestinal cramps; a type of adult colic for individuals consuming too much cannabis.

With dosing, the bottom line is cannabis intake presents many potential health risks if not properly administered to match an individual’s chemical makeup – just like any other medication. Research shows an increasing amount of cannabis users who simply take too much as a medical treatment or as a lifestyle in daily routines, creating new and negative health issues.

What is often neglected is the dosage level each individual needs for medication or a healthy lifestyle choice. Just like any over-the-counter supplements, there are guidelines as to how much is recommended for daily dosage. Partnering with LHL, CANNA-PS™ uses FDA cleared advanced medical monitoring equipment for analysing the performance and functions of a person’s parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, independently and simultaneously. This patented and proven technology is designed to evaluate and help measure dosing guidelines in the treatment of cannabis patients and users.

Liquid Health Labs has engineered supplements to protect and reverse damage done to the autonomic nervous system. These supplements, along with dosing recommendations and moderate use of cannabis products, will help the industry and users alike create a ‘gold standard’ around dosage and use.

For more information about Liquid Health Labs and PowerCap Technology, visit http://mypowercap.com/.