Is Holland and Barrett CBD Oil any good? We lab-tested it and this is what we found…

Holland & Barrett is the UK’s leading health and wellness brand and was one of the first high-street retailers to stock CBD oil. Hundreds of brands have since followed suit, but as of January 2020, Holland and Barrett’s CBD oil is still one of the first products that shows up when people search for “CBD oil”.

(NOTE: Holland & Barrett’s CBD oil is actually Jacob Hooy CBD Oil, manufactured in the Netherlands.)

At CBD Shopy, we’ve encountered our fair share of CBD oil brands that make big promises about quality and effectiveness, only to fall far short when we put them to the test. (FYI: you won’t find any of them in our online store!)

So is Holland & Barrett’s CBD Oil one of these pretenders, or does it deserve its top spot? We bought 3 bottles & sent them to 3 diffrent independent labs for analysis.

The importance of lab-testing CBD oil

Any reputable CBD oil manufacturer will have their product tested by a third-party lab and will make the results available to customers. Among other things, these results will tell you:

• The concentration of CBD in the product (as a percentage).
• The concentration of THC (the compound responsible for the “high” feeling you get when you smoke cannabis).
• Other ingredients such as cannabinoids, terpenes and carrier oils, and their quantities.
• Whether or not harmful contaminants like heavy metals are present.

UK regulations haven’t quite caught up with the popularity of CBD oil, so these lab reports are not yet a legal requirement. Without them, you’re essentially buying on good faith, something a recent report found that many UK CBD oil manufacturers are exploiting.

Highlights of the report included:

• 38% of the products tested contained less than 50% of the advertised CBD content (one high street brand had zero despite charging £90 per bottle!).
• 45% contained illegal levels of THC.
• Multiple products contained heavy metals and solvents exceeding food safety limits.
• One contained enough ethanol to be considered an alcoholic drink.

This report makes it crystal-clear: if you buy a CBD oil product without knowing its content and quality, you could be throwing your money away at best, and risking health and legal problems at worst.

When we looked on Holland & Barrett’s website, we noted that they didn’t make any lab test results available for their CBD oil. This is a huge red flag for us here at CBD Shopy – what are they hiding? -- and with over 1.9k people searching “is holland and barrett cbd oil any good” in the last month, it seems that many of you are cautious too.

With that in mind, we decided to send samples of Holland & Barrett’s Jacob Hooy CBD Oil to three independent UK labs to see if their product lived up to its reputation.

Is Holland and Barrett CBD Oil any good?

YES! Holland & Barrett’s Jacob Hooy CBD oil is a quality product. Based on test results from three independent labs, we can confirm that: The product contains the advertised amount of 5% CBD+ and the THC content is below the legal limit.

Note that the results vary slightly from lab to lab due to variations in facilities and testing methods, but this slight difference falls within the scientifically accepted range for accuracy.

The second lab report also confirmed that no heavy metals were detected in Holland & Barrett’s CBD Oil, including arsenic, mercury, lead and cadmium.

In addition to the lab findings, we were able to determine that the Jacob Hooy CBD Oil offers added value in the following areas:

• Organically grown hemp.
• A respected and long-established brand endorsed by the Dutch royal household.
• Meets U.S. FDA Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) food safety regulations.
• In the process of achieving ISO 22000 certification.
• Affordably priced in the mid-market range at £29.99 per 10ml bottle with 5% CBD.
• Suitable for vegans and vegetarians.
• An overall 3.8/5 rating based on Holland & Barrett customer reviews. 

In conclusion…

We apply strict quality criteria when choosing CBD oils for CBD Shopy’s online store, and we never stock a product that doesn’t have readily available lab reports. However, upon reviewing the third-party analysis of Holland & Barrett’s Jacob Hooy CBD Oil, we’re confident that we can give the product the CBD Shopy stamp of approval.

You can purchase the CBD oil directly from the Holland & Barrett website, alternatively you may browse our selection of best-selling CBD oils.