GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) Supplement - Side Effects, Dose

GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) Supplement - Side Effects, Dose
100 grams pure powder or 60 chewable tablets

GABA (gamma-amino butyric acid) is an inhibitory neurotransmitter, helping neurons stay selective about the signals to which they respond and helping produce a state of relaxation.  Taken at bedtime, supplemental GABA may assist some people in the initiation of sleep and produce a deeper and more beneficial sleep.

Gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), the brains major inhibitory neurotransmitter, tends to be in lower than normal levels in seizure-prone rats (1) and humans with epilepsy.(2)  Seizure-prone preeclamptic patients (hypertensive condition during late pregnancy) also have decreased brain GABA concentrations.(3)  Brain GABA levels depend on both zinc and vitamin B6.  Zinc is involved in the maintenance of pyridoxal phosphate concentrations by the activation of pyridoxal kinase.  Pyridoxal kinase is important in decarboxylation, and lack of this enzyme results in lowered brain levels of GABA.  Consequently, zinc deficiency may increase the risk of pre-eclamptic seizures by reducing brain GABA concentrations and lowering the seizure threshold.  Unfortunately, plasma pyridoxal phosphate measurements alone do not appear to accurately reflect vitamin B6 status or true tissue pyridoxal phosphate levels.(3)

In addition to vitamin B6, magnesium and dimethylglycine (DMG) may result in an appearance of speech in formerly non-speaking autistic children.  Magnesium, vitamin B6 and dimethylglycine (DMG) all have strong anti-seizure properties and may be effective in this regard.(5)  The deficiency of another member of the B-complex, B1, has also been reported as a contributor to epileptic seizures.(6)

British researchers have found that the age-related decline in higher brain functions is due, in large part, to a lack of the inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA.  Higher brain functions, such as visual recognition and language comprehension, decline as people get older.  This decline appears to be due to a reduction of GABA, which results in neurons with specific tasks being more easily fired by some other types of stimulus, slowing down processing of information in the brain.

As people age, brain neurons increasingly fire non-selectively, and interpreting information then becomes like listening to whispering in the discotheque as opposed to shouting in a quiet room.  The new research shows that GABA works as a gating mechanism to help neurons remain selective when responding to stimuli to enable the brain to make sense of the vast quantity of incoming information.

When old Macaque monkeys, equivalent to 90-year-old humans, were treated with GABA and drugs that increase GABA levels in the brain, their performance on tests for brain functions improved vastly within a couple of minutes.  The fact is, all the cells are still there and functioning -- it is a transmitter problem -- its treatable.  While doctors have observed the paradoxical effect of GABA-enhancing drugs making people more alert, this is the first study to show that increasing GABA or its effects may support mental function.

Another consideration for increasing GABA levels is via the amino acid L-glutamine.  The glutamine cycle in the brain is simple and elegant.  Glutamine readily crosses the blood-brain barrier.  Neurons take up glutamine and convert it to glutamate or GABA (through the additional step of decarboxylating glutamate).  After either glutamate or GABA are released into the synaptic junction, the supportive cells called glia take up the glutamate or GABA and re-synthesize glutamine -- detoxifying ammonia in the process. The glutamate that is not converted to l-glutamine is used by the glia as a source of energy and also to produce energy nutrients alanine and alpha-ketoglutarate which are then released to the neurons.

Caution:  It is not advisable to take more than 700 mg per dose

Warnings:

• Keep GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) amino acid supplements out of reach of children,

• Do not exceed recommended dose,

• If you have a reaction, discontinue use immediately,

• When using GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) amino acid supplements, please inform your physician.

Order:  GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) | L-Theanine | L-Glutamine | OptiZinc | Magnesium | Vitamin B6

References:

1. Lasley, S. M. Role of Neurotransmitter Amino Acids in Seizure Severity and Experience in the Genetically Epilepsy-Prone Rat. Brain Res, 1991; 560:63-70
2. During, M.J. and Spencer, D. D. Extracellular Hippocampal Glutamate and Spontaneous Seizure in the Conscious Human Brain. The Lancet, June 26, 1993; 341 (8861): 1607-1610
3. Anonymous. Zinc, Preeclampsia, and Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid. Am Jnl of Obst & Gyn, July 1990, 163, 1, (Part I): 242-243
4. Baumeister, F. Glutamate in Pyridoxine-Dependent Epilepsy: Neurotoxic Glutamate Concentration in the Cerebrospinal Fluid and Its Normalization by Pyridoxine. Ped, September 1994, 94 (3): 318-321
5. Seizures, Vitamin B6, DMG, and Sudden Speech Autism, Res Rev Intl, 1996, 10 (2): 1
6. Keyser, A. Epileptic Manifestations and Vitamin B1 Deficiency. Eur Neuro, 1991, 31: 121-125.

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