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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Of action,” according to a 2018 study on transmucosal drug delivery.53We don’t know exactly how GABA gets into the rest of your body after being dissolved in your stomach. If it works like other ingestible supplements, it’s either uptaken by GABA receptors in the GI system or moved into the bloodstream to cross the blood-brain barrier. However, as we explain below, even that explanation gets complicated fast.GABA and the blood-brain barrierIn order to protect your brain from outside influences, your body has a highly selective barrier between your blood and central nervous system. This physical barrier in specific blood vessels is called the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The BBB keeps things that don’t need to reach your brain from getting in.40 It's pretty challenging to pass through unless assisted by a transporter or receptor, which is a unique sort of protein designed to pass one particular kind of molecule up to the brain.There’s a lot of debate about whether or not GABA passes through the BBB. That is, we don’t really know whether GABA works through the brain or through the central or peripheral nervous system — or, to a broader extent, if it really works when taken supplementally.A 2020 systematic review on GABA for stress and sleep in humans delves into the mixed findings on this topic. Some studies from the 1970s suggest that supplemental GABA is wholly unable to cross the BBB, while others from the ’80s to the early 2000s suggest anything from small to substantial amounts can get through.41 Two studies mentioned in the review — a 2008 study with 13 human subjects and a 2012 study with 63 — used electroencephalogram (EEG) tests to measure brainwaves in response to biosynthetic GABA, and the researchers found evidence that GABA could reach the brain.42 43 (It’s worth mentioning that the 2008 study used PharmaGABA, the form used by Thorne and Quicksilver Scientific.)44Basically, whether or not GABA can cross the BBB is unknown at this point, but research on supplemental GABA for concerns like anxiety and stress is promising. This means that even if GABA doesn’t permeate the BBB, it still may be able to help you.Is GABA safe?The FDA and the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) — a guidebook describing all drugs, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals — both say that GABA supplements are generally safe when used as directed, but there aren't clear guidelines as to what constitutes a safe
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