Healthspan is a popular online UK supplement retailer that also produces a small range of CBD products. They offer oils, capsules and balms in a few different strengths. I’ve been trying their 5% oil drops which come with 480mg of CBD in 10ml of MCT oil.

A peppermint flavouring has been added to the oil to make it more palatable and it comes with a standard bulb-tipped dropper. It’s suitable for both vegetarians and vegans. The clear glass bottle does a great job of showing off the crystal-clear golden oil; all traces of plant matter have been filtered out to remove any cloudiness.

I was surprised to see that the label featured the phrase ‘super strength’ and there were claims of ‘high potency’ in the product description. In the UK you can purchase CBD oil in a broad range of strengths ranging from 1% to 50%. This makes a 5% oil towards the low strength end and attempts to pass it off as anything stronger are misleading.

However, despite my surprise at those claims, I was impressed by the amount of relevant information on the packaging. A single bottle comes in a large box that is covered in useful details about how the oil is prepared, where the hemp is sourced and how to find a daily amount that works for you.

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Contents

Who is Healthspan?

Founded in 1996 by Derek Coates, Healthspan started out as a small mail-order supplier of vitamins and supplements. Now they’re considered to be one of the largest online health supplement stores serving the UK. Their product range has expanded to include nutritional supplements, herbal products, skincare, cosmetics and even veterinary supplements.

Their range of CBD products is made in Guernsey with hemp farmed in the EU. It’s extracted using CO2 to reduce the risk of contamination. Although they don’t claim that the extract is full or broad-spectrum, they do mention that it contains trace levels of THC, which makes it likely that it also has traces of other cannabinoids as well. This would make it a full-spectrum oil.

Although Healthspan provides lots of general information about their CBD products, it lacks specifics. It would be useful to include more details about which cannabinoids can be found in their oils and capsules.

3rd Party Lab Tests

Healthspan commissions a third-party lab to analyse their CBD products and make sure they contain only a trace of THC. Some of the lab results are available on the product page, but they’ve chosen to publish them in the form of a ‘statement of results’ and not the original certificates.

This means that we only get to see their interpretation of the results and not the actual analysis. For example, the only information given is that the levels of CBD and THC fall within acceptable ranges:

CBD = 4.75 % to > 5 % (Complies)
THC < 1 mg per container (Complies)

While this is essential information, it doesn’t say what the exact measure of each cannabinoid is or if any others were tested for.

That being said, I was pleased to see that a new statement is made available for each product batch. It was easy to match up the number on my bottle with the correct certificate. This is an excellent way of ensuring that the results you’re viewing match the actual product you’ve bought.

Ease of Use

I found these drops easy to use thanks to the effective dropper. It doesn’t have any helpful marks on it to measure out precise amounts, but it’s well made and simple to use. In the neck of the bottle is a plastic sheath that fits snugly around the dropper as you insert it. I’ve not seen these used before and it does a great job at preventing leaks and holding the dropper firmly.

There is minimal information on the bottle itself because the full instructions are on the box it comes in. It recommends that you take one to seven drops up to three times daily under your tongue. They don’t say how long the oil should be kept under your tongue, which is an important detail, particularly for beginners. However, they go into great detail about how to get the equivalent measurements between their products and how much to take.

All in all these drops were simple to apply but would benefit from the addition of a child-safe cap and marks on the dropper to make measurement simpler.

Healthspan CBD Oil Taste

There is almost no trace of the grass-like flavour of hemp in this oil. The peppermint flavouring is pleasant and not too strong. It’s backed up by the mild buttery taste of the MCT oil. With some peppermint flavoured CBD oils I’ve found that the mint and the hemp tastes are so strong they compete with each other. That’s not the case here; the filtering has minimised any bitterness and allowed the peppermint to shine. If you don’t like bitter, herbal flavours, then you’re in safe hands with this one.

Potency/ Effectiveness

I chose to take seven drops, three times a day which is the maximum recommended amount and reaches approximately 30mg daily. I decided to do this because I’m a regular CBD consumer and I know that I usually achieve the effects I want with a slightly stronger serving.

Over the course of the two weeks, I used Healthspan CBD oil I didn’t notice any strong effects just a few small positive changes. I slept slightly better, felt a mild reduction in anxiety symptoms and didn’t have any of my usual, severe tension headaches.

Value for Money

The price of a 10ml bottle of this 5% oil is £28.95, but if you choose to join Healthspan’s subscribe and save scheme you can save £3 for each order after your first full-price purchase. This isn’t the lowest price I’ve seen (CBD Brothers Blue Edition and Simply CBD offer great value), but it’s affordable and similar to the prices of the 5% oils from CBD Guru and Jacob Hooy.

Healthspan offers a lot with this oil that makes it great value, but their approach to third-party lab certificates lets it down. Lab analysis is an important way for customers to be able to verify the claims made by brands personally. Even though some of the details are presented in the form of a ‘statement’, it loses its effectiveness if customers can’t verify a brand’s claims for themselves from the original certificates.

Would I Buy Again?

No, I would not buy Healthspan CBD oil again. Whilst the price and effectiveness are not poor, both could be better. What really lets this oil down is the lack of transparency that many of us expect when making a purchase. If Healthspan were willing to publish the full lab reports then I would recommend it.

There are better and more cost-effective oils available and these can be found in our best UK CBD oils article. As the product only uses hemp grown without fertilisers and pesticides it cannot be included in our best organic CBD oil reviews either.

If what you seek is a high-strength oil, at 5% it is a long way off the threshold of 25% to be included in our list of the strongest CBD oils available in the UK.

Healthspan CBD Oil Final Scores

Healthspan 480mg CBD Oil

Overall

Healthspan’s 480mg peppermint flavoured oil is suitable for vegans and is suspended in an MCT carrier. It’s made with EU hemp which is extracted with CO2 and contains only traces of THC. The peppermint flavour is pleasant and it’s almost impossible to detect any hint of hemp or the bitterness you might expect. Unfortunately, Healthspan don’t publish the original third-party lab results and don’t go into detail about which cannabinoids the oil contains.

Third-party lab results

Ease of use

Potency/ effectiveness

Value for money

7.5

Pros

Detailed information on the box and website

Made with an MCT carrier oil

CO2 extracted

Leak-proof bottle

Easy to use dropper

Made from EU hemp