What is CBDA? Raw CBD oil and CBDA vs CBD explained

CBDA (cannabidiolic acid) is the raw form of CBD made by the hemp plant. Fresh hemp contains mostly CBDA, and heat or time turns it into CBD by removing carbon dioxide. CBDA is not intoxicating. Early studies show the body absorbs it much better than CBD, and animal research on nausea and inflammation is promising.

What is CBDA?

CBDA stands for cannabidiolic acid. It is the form in which the hemp plant makes and stores what we later call CBD.

Inside the plant, an enzyme called CBDA synthase converts cannabigerolic acid (CBGA) into CBDA. That enzyme is what makes a plant "fibre-type" hemp rather than drug-type cannabis, and CBDA is the dominant cannabinoid in hemp (Taura et al., 2007). In drug-type cannabis, a sister enzyme makes THCA, the acid form of THC, instead.

So when you hold a fresh hemp flower, there is very little CBD in it. There is CBDA, and CBD appears only after the plant material has been heated or stored for a long time.

What is the difference between CBDA and CBD?

CBDA and CBD are almost the same molecule. CBDA carries one extra carboxyl group (COOH). That small group changes how the molecule behaves: how stable it is, how well it is absorbed and which targets in the body it acts on.

How does CBDA turn into CBD? Decarboxylation explained

Decarboxylation means "removing the carboxyl group". When CBDA is heated, the COOH group leaves the molecule as carbon dioxide, and what remains is CBD. It also happens slowly during storage, and faster with heat.

The speed depends on temperature and time. In a study that heated cannabis extracts at 80 °C to 145 °C, the conversion followed a steady, predictable curve, and CBDA converted about half as fast as THCA (Wang et al., 2016).

For our classic full-spectrum and broad-spectrum CBD oils, we decarboxylate the extract to about 95%, so about 5% stays in its natural CBDA form, as described on our quality control page. Our RAW oils are decarboxylated to only about 60%, so much more of the hemp's natural CBDA stays in the oil.

What does research say about CBDA?

CBD has been studied for decades. CBDA is less stable than CBD, which has made it harder to study (Singh et al., 2026). The last few years have brought a wave of new studies, and the results so far are encouraging.

Absorption: CBDA reaches the blood more easily

This is the most consistent finding. In each of the studies below, CBDA reached higher blood levels than CBD at similar doses. All of these studies gave the cannabinoids by mouth or by injection.

• People: 15 healthy adults took a hemp extract with roughly equal amounts of CBD and CBDA by mouth. Peak blood levels of the acid forms (CBDA and THCA) were 19–25 times higher than those of CBD and THC, and they peaked up to twice as fast (Elder et al., 2025).
• Swiss trial: at University Hospital Basel, nine healthy men took a heated and an unheated cannabis extract by mouth. Blood CBD over 24 hours was almost twice as high after the unheated extract (Eichler et al., 2012).
• Mice: CBDA reached plasma levels about 100 times higher than CBD under the same dosing conditions. The authors call CBDA "previously overlooked and therapeutically underutilized" (Binova et al., 2025).
• Horses, dogs and cats: CBDA blood levels were up to 67 times higher than CBD in horses, and about two to four times higher in dogs and cats (Ekstrand et al., 2026; Wakshlag et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2022).

Why does this matter? CBD is poorly absorbed when swallowed. The horse researchers concluded that, for this reason, CBDA "may hold greater clinical relevance" and called for further studies (Ekstrand et al., 2026). Better absorption is now one of the main reasons researchers are looking at CBDA.

Nausea and vomiting

The best-known CBDA studies come from researchers at the University of Aberdeen and the University of Guelph. In house musk shrews, CBDA reduced vomiting caused by toxins and by motion. In rats, it reduced nausea-like behaviour, including in a model of anticipatory nausea. CBDA was clearly more potent than CBD, and it worked by boosting the activity of serotonin 5-HT1A receptors (Bolognini et al., 2013). The authors concluded that CBDA "shows promise" for nausea and vomiting.

Inflammation

In a laboratory study, CBDA selectively blocked COX-2, an enzyme involved in inflammation. It was about nine times more selective for COX-2 than for its sister enzyme COX-1 (Takeda et al., 2008). In rats, CBDA given before an inflammatory injection in the paw reduced both pain sensitivity and swelling. At a low dose, CBDA worked where the same dose of CBD did not (Rock et al., 2018).

Seizure models

Researchers at the University of Sydney studied six cannabinoid acids in mice. All were absorbed quickly. In a mouse model of Dravet syndrome, a severe childhood epilepsy, CBDA raised the body temperature at which the mice had a seizure (Anderson et al., 2019).

Animals: dogs, cats and horses

Several veterinary trials have tested hemp extracts rich in both CBD and CBDA, given by mouth:

• Dogs: in 14 dogs with hard-to-control epilepsy, seizures fell from an average of 8.0 during placebo to 5.0 during treatment, alongside their usual medicines. Six of the 14 dogs had at least 50% fewer seizures, compared with none on placebo (Garcia et al., 2022).
• Cats: in a placebo-controlled trial in cats with osteoarthritis, pain scores from vets and owners fell after six weeks in the 14 cats that completed it (Mulder et al., 2025).
• Horses: seven horses received a CBDA-rich oil twice daily for six weeks, with no clinically relevant changes in blood tests or liver biopsies (Wang et al., 2025). In 24 horses with chronic osteoarthritis, a CBDA oil lowered pain-scale scores over 14 days, with no side effects; there was no untreated group (Aragona et al., 2024).

Read more in our guides to CBD for dogs and CBD for cats, and in our overview of scientific research.

What is RAW CBD oil?

"RAW" describes an oil made from hemp extract that has not been fully decarboxylated. It keeps more of the plant's natural acid cannabinoids, above all CBDA, alongside CBD.

This is how we make ours:

• Partial decarboxylation: the RAW extract is decarboxylated to only about 60%, compared with about 95% for our classic oils, so much more of the CBDA stays as it was in the plant.
• Carrier: hemp seed oil. The RAW oils are full spectrum, with THC below 0.2%, in strengths of 5%, 10%, 20% and 30%.

Our RAW oils, like all our CBD oils, are notified as cosmetics for use on the skin (CPNP in the EU, SCPN in the UK).

Why does the lab report for RAW oil show CBD, not CBDA?

Every production batch is tested, and we publish the certificates of analysis on our quality report page. If you open a RAW certificate, you will see a CBD figure but no separate CBDA figure. That is because of how the test works.

Our certificates use gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection (GC-FID). The sample is heated during the test, which turns CBDA into CBD. As each certificate states, the values "account for total amount of cannabinoids after complete decarboxylation". The CBD figure on a RAW certificate is therefore the total: the CBD and the CBDA together, counted as CBD.

Each batch measured at or slightly above its labelled strength. For the cannabinoid basics, see our guides to what CBD is and the cannabinoids in cannabis.

How should you store RAW CBD oil?

Because CBDA turns into CBD with heat and time, storage matters more for a RAW oil than for a classic one. Keep the bottle closed, away from heat and direct sunlight, and follow the storage directions on the label. A warm windowsill or a hot car can slowly shift the balance from CBDA towards CBD.

Is CBDA safe?

The studies so far are reassuring. Horses received CBDA-rich oil twice daily for six weeks without clinically relevant changes in blood tests or liver tissue (Wang et al., 2025). Cats given a CBD and CBDA paste for a week had no behavioural or neurological side effects, and their blood tests stayed within reference ranges (Wang et al., 2022).

Human safety data for CBDA on its own are still limited. Talk to your doctor before using any CBD or CBDA product if you take medication, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or have a liver condition. See our guides to CBD side effects and CBD and medication. For animals, ask your vet first.

If you want an oil that keeps more of the hemp's natural CBDA, see our RAW CBD oil in hemp seed oil.