How much CBD a day? EFSA's 2 mg reference level

EFSA published on 9 February 2026 a provisional safe intake level for CBD: 0.0275 mg per kilo of body weight per day. A 70 kg adult reaches about 2 mg a day. At 60 kg the calculation gives 1.65 mg, at 90 kg close to 2.5 mg.

Strict conditions apply. The level covers only food supplements with CBD at least 98% pure and no nanoparticles, made by a process judged safe, and for which genotoxicity (the ability to damage DNA) has been ruled out. For people under 25, pregnant or breastfeeding women and people taking medication, the agency says the safety of CBD cannot be established, so no reference level exists for them.

The figure is a safety ceiling. Below it, EFSA sees no risk on current data. It is no recommended dose, and it says nothing about the amount that would produce an effect.

EFSA issued its first favourable opinion on a CBD food on 18 September 2026. The product is synthetic CBD at least 98% pure, dissolved in medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil and sold as a food supplement at 2 mg a day or less. It is meant for adults over 25, pregnancy and breastfeeding excluded, and its safety is not established for people on medication. The same factor of 400, applied to the applicant's 90-day study, gives 0.026 mg/kg per day, or 2 mg for 70 kg. On 21 September two hemp-derived CBD dossiers, a CBD isolate and a hemp extract, received the opposite conclusion: their safety "cannot be established", since the applicants had not supplied the requested data. An opinion authorises nothing on its own; the European Commission and the member states still have to decide. In France nothing changes for now.

The reasoning is set out in the update of EFSA's statement, published in the EFSA Journal. In 2022 the expert panel had found gaps on the possible effects of CBD on the liver, digestive tract, endocrine system, nervous system and reproduction. A literature review closed in June 2024 confirmed them: many recent studies are short, poorly standardised or carried out in patients already on other medicines.

Animal studies show liver toxicity consistently, with heavier livers and damage visible under the microscope. Human trials point to a potential for liver toxicity, particularly alongside other medicines. The experts modelled a reference point from subchronic animal studies (of intermediate length) run under good laboratory practice, then divided it by an uncertainty factor of 400. A starting point of around 11 mg/kg a day thus becomes a human reference level of 0.0275 mg/kg.

EFSA also notes that absorption varies with the product and with food intake. The Epidyolex summary of product characteristics, published by the European Medicines Agency, quantifies the effect. In healthy volunteers, a high-fat meal raised peak blood concentration 5-fold and total exposure 4-fold compared with a fasting dose. The same amount gives a different exposure depending on when you take it.

Published references range from 1 to 700. The UK limit sits above the EU one: the Food Standards Agency has advised healthy adults since October 2023 not to go above 10 mg of CBD a day, "about 4-5 drops of 5% CBD oil". It advises against CBD for minors, for anyone on medication without medical advice, and during pregnancy, breastfeeding or attempts to conceive.

Epidyolex, prescribed for rare forms of epilepsy, is the only authorised CBD-based medicine. Its maintenance dose is 10 mg/kg a day, and the maximum 20 to 25 mg/kg depending on the indication. At these doses, under medical supervision, the most frequent side effects are sleepiness (23% of patients), reduced appetite (21%) and diarrhoea (20%), and raised liver enzymes need monitoring. Nobody should read these figures as a target. What they show is that the effects of CBD depend on the dose. Our article on Epidyolex details its framework, and the one on CBD side effects reviews the available data.

The percentage on an oil gives its concentration. How much you swallow depends on the number of drops. When the percentage is expressed as mass per volume, a 10 ml bottle labelled 10% holds 1,000 mg of CBD, or 100 mg per ml. The total in mg printed on the label is the most reliable figure.

Drop volume depends on the dropper and on how viscous the oil is. The FSA advice, 10 mg for 4 to 5 drops of 5% oil, implies about twenty drops per ml. On that assumption:

Above 5%, EFSA's reference comes to a fraction of a drop, which no dropper can measure out. A 20 mg capsule is ten times the reference, a 10 mg gummy five times. The dropper method is described in our guide to sublingual use, and the oils in the catalogue state their total CBD content in mg.

EFSA's reference is a daily total, and taking the same amount in two or four doses leaves it unchanged. "Microdosing" means taking very small amounts several times a day. No comparative study supports it, and it remains a user habit with no validation behind it. The trade often quotes the "start low, go slow" rule, which helps calibrate a felt effect. It gives no safety guarantee for an amount above the reference.

Before any regular use, keep two points in mind. CBD is processed by the liver enzymes that clear many medicines, which opens the door to interactions, described in our article on the grapefruit effect. Its effect also does not necessarily grow with the dose, as our article on the biphasic effect explains. Microdosing THC has no legal framework at all: any product with more than 0.30% THC is a controlled drug, whatever the amount taken.

In France, the question "how much to swallow" meets the law first. The Ministry of Agriculture restated on 20 May 2026 that foods containing CBD, supplements, oils and gummies included, are not authorised under Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 on novel foods and must be taken off the market. Hemp seeds and their derivatives, such as seed oil, remain authorised, as do leaves for infusion, provided no cannabinoid extract is added. The details are in our overview of CBD regulation in 2026 and our article on the withdrawal of gummies.

Vocabulary obeys the same rule. Article L. 5111-1 of the Public Health Code defines as a medicine any product presented as having curative or preventive properties with regard to diseases. A brand that writes "25 mg to sleep" is presenting its product as a medicine, which is why no serious product page gives a dosage.

For some people there is no reference level at all: EFSA leaves out under-25s, pregnancy, breastfeeding and ongoing treatment. ANSES proposed in March 2025 classifying CBD as presumed toxic to reproduction, as covered in our article on CBD during pregnancy. If you drive, note that a full-spectrum oil contains traces of THC that a saliva test can pick up; our drug testing guide explains how.