HOME › FORMULAS › INGREDIENTS › GABA
GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid)
The brain's main calming messenger, and one of the ingredients we are least sure of. Taken by mouth, very little of it reaches the brain in healthy adults, it carries no authorised EU claim and the published results against placebo are mixed and modest. It sits in one formula, as a companion to others, never as the reason that formula works.
WHAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO SAY
No authorised claim. Not one.
There is no health claim for GABA on the EU register, so there is no wording for us to quote. We checked Regulation 432/2012 and the EFSA opinions behind it and found nothing authorised, which is why nothing is listed here and why we do not attribute an effect to it.There is no health claim for GABA on the EU register, so there is nothing for us to quote and we do not attribute an effect to it.
You will read that GABA helps you sleep or calms you down. Neither is an authorised claim. In Relax & fast sleep, the sleep claim comes from the melatonin and the nervous system claims from the magnesium next to it, not from the GABA.
WHY FERMENTED
No claim to protect. Only the batch.
No form of GABA carries an authorised claim, so the form is not a claim argument and we do not use it as one. The form we specify is GABA made by fermentation, of plant origin, chosen for safety and consistency. It is also the form named in the EU regulatory status we hold on file for it.
Made by fermentation with Lactobacillus hilgardii and sold as PharmaGABA®. Chosen for safety and batch-to-batch consistency, not for a stronger claim.
It dissolves in water, stays stable in liquid and tastes neutral, which is what a formula poured in 0.2 ml pulses needs.
GABA is a defined compound and can also be made synthetically. We have no comparison between the two on file, so we do not claim that one is better absorbed.
Taken by mouth, very little GABA crosses into the brain in healthy adults, whatever the form. We have no source that says the fermented form gets further, and we do not have a reliable figure for how much of it you absorb at all. The choice is about safety and consistency, nothing more.Very little GABA taken by mouth reaches the brain, whatever the form. The choice is about safety and consistency, nothing more.
WHERE IT APPEARS
One of the twenty-nine carries GABA.
It appears only in Relax & fast sleep, next to melatonin, magnesium and valerian. Our own notes say it should never lead a formula, only keep company in a night one, and that is the only way we use it. The 500 mg it carries sits inside the 100 to 800 mg a day used in published studies on sleep and relaxation. But our own dose file puts the minimum effective amount at 750 mg, above the 500 mg this formula serves. We serve it as a companion, not at a dose we can call effective on its own.
THE CEILING
No official limit. So the cap is ours: 800 mg a day.
EFSA has not set an upper intake level for GABA, and there is no NRV either, because your body makes its own from glutamate. So the ceiling is one we set: the engine keeps your total at or under 800 mg a day, across everything you take. Relax & fast sleep carries 500 mg, and it is the only formula that carries any.EFSA has not set an upper limit for GABA and there is no NRV. The engine keeps your total at or under 800 mg a day, across everything you take.
The cap is on the sum, not on each formula. Our notes also flag valerian, GABA-rich fermented foods such as fermented oolong tea or germinated rice, and GABA-like nootropics such as phenibut, which is not authorised in the EU, as pushing in the same direction.
Generally well tolerated at usual doses. Reported: mild headache, drowsiness, passing tingling (mostly at high doses), a slight drop in blood pressure and indigestion. No relevant toxicity is documented up to 1,000 mg taken in one go.
Avoid it in pregnancy and breastfeeding, where there is not enough data. Not for anyone under 18 without supervision. Ask a doctor first if you have liver disease, kidney disease, a heart condition or an arrhythmia, since it can lower blood pressure slightly. The formula that carries it is also withheld from anyone on VKA anticoagulants or with an autoimmune condition such as lupus, because of the melatonin next to it. No warning is legally required on the label for GABA; these are the ones we apply anyway.
WHAT IT REACTS WITH
Documented pairs, not hunches.
GABA is one of the 140 ingredients in our library, so it has 139 possible partners. We have documented 15 of them, out of the 443 pairs on file. Ten are complementary, among them the melatonin, magnesium and valerian it shares a formula with. Caffeine and other stimulants fall under a separate rule: never within eight hours of a sedative.
Charcoal binds it in the gut: never in the same dose, at least 3 hours apart, and at night the charcoal goes at least 3 hours before. St John's wort also acts on the brain's calming receptors, so the two are not combined at full doses in the same plan.
Konjac glucomannan, psyllium husk and white clay can reduce how much of it you absorb. They are kept at least 2 hours apart from it.
In Relax & fast sleep, the only formula that carries it, alcohol and benzodiazepines are not to be combined with it at all: not a 'check with your doctor', a no. Beyond those, its effect can add to barbiturates, sleeping pills, pregabalin, gabapentin and sedating antipsychotics, and possibly to anticonvulsants, so talk to a doctor first. It can also add slightly to the effect of blood pressure medication.
None of GABA's medication interactions is in our drug table yet: the warning above comes from its own file, not from a checked pair. Across the library, 443 of the 9,730 possible pairs are documented, which is 4.55%. The rest are not "safe", they are simply unchecked, and we would rather write that down than let the number look like a badge.None of GABA's medication interactions is in our drug table yet. Across the library, 443 of the 9,730 possible pairs are documented, which is 4.55%. The rest are not safe, they are simply unchecked.
SOURCES
Everything on this page, with its reference.
Reviewed by VION nutrition team · last reviewed 16 September 2026Read the introduction to GABA →
140 INGREDIENTS · 64 IN USE TODAY
Every one of them has a page like this.
What it is, what we are allowed to say about it, which formulas carry it, what it reacts with and where each of those statements comes from. No proprietary blends, no hidden amounts.