GABA should be taken on an empty stomach, from one to three times per day, depending on your needs. For overall stress support throughout the day, take it morning and afternoon. If you need help calming your mind for sleep, you can take it only in the evening, or as needed. It’s a great benefit to calming the body and mind without making you feel groggy. As always, let your primary care physician know about any supplements you are taking/adding to keep your health history in one place. Best! -Zoe

Hello, I have a question about stress and migraines. I developed migraines after menopause and at one point was having 2 or 3 month, usually after even mildly stressful occasions. Doctors have not helped me, they don’t quite understand how awful the migraines effect my body, by not only having terrible pain for up to 3 days, very low mood, weepiness, and complete exhaustion. After it passes, I slowly feel my energy return and feel normal again, but always worried about the next episode. I am wondering if the stress relief could help with this.

I’ve read that if GABA (taken orally) provides relief for anxiety, then this is indicative of permeability within the blood/brain barrier as these molecules are too large to pass through the barrier.  What is your perspective / comments on this?

Thanks for your question, Dan. We are learning more and more about the mechanisms with which GABA intake (through food or supplements) influences behavior. While it may be that in some cases there is a “leaky” blood-brain barrier (BBB), that does not have to be the case for GABA to help with anxiety.

As you may know, the primary communication pathway between the gut and the brain is the vagus nerve. When GABA-rich foods or supplements are consumed, neuronal transmission from the gut to the brain through the vagus nerve is affected. If the neurons in the gut sense an adequate amount of GABA, they communicate this information to the brain via the vagus nerve. In the brain, GABA receptors are stimulated, and anxiety can be prevented or reduced.

Additionally, some research has found that certain beneficial gut microbes depend on GABA as their fuel source, while others produce it themselves, so if we are feeding the ‘good’ bacteria with GABA, and other ‘good’ bacteria are producing it, there may be less room available for pathogenic strains to thrive. This balance is important because pathogenic bacteria can indirectly cause an increase in anxiety through inflammatory proteins that are released by immune cells in our guts in the presence of these ‘bad’ bacteria. 

As you can see, it’s not simple but I hope it helps a little!

Zoe