KYOTO, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sleep has become a precious commodity in today’s world, and the bedroom a battlefield. We’re called on by the devices that surround us to keep engaged and in touch, we even seek technology’s advantages, but we find ourselves exhausted and still unable to disconnect, too wired to rest. The answer is to try to make the time we do sleep more valuable, and now there is proof that this can be achieved with the administration of γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), a naturally-occurring amino acid that is also a key inhibitory neurotransmitter in all human life.
How important is sleep to human health? We’ve always known it intuitively by the way we feel when we lack it. But we now know that there’s more going on than our body is telling us in the moment. Yes, energy flags, stamina plummets, and attention vaporizes. But the cognitive effects of sleep deficit may go much deeper than previously thought. Last year researchers at the University of California-Berkeley delivered troubling news. They showed that non-REM sleep deficiency was associated with a higher buildup of toxic beta-amyloids in the brain, setting the stage for the onset of Alzheimer’s disease at an accelerated pace. This alone should give us reason to do everything in our power to maximize the value of the sleep we’re able to eke out.
Now Pharma Foods International Co. Ltd., manufacturer of PharmaGABA and supplying partner of Mitsubishi International Food Ingredients Inc., is publishing the results of a 2014 crossover-based, single-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled trial series that reveals the relationship between GABA and both the time it takes to achieve sleep, and the length of non-REM sleep, which is essential to deriving its benefits and pushing back against the potentially debilitating effects of sleep deficit.
The study confirms conclusively that subjects administered PharmaGABA:
- Fell asleep more quickly and easily, and more rapidly moved to a state of deep sleep.
- Experienced greater length of valuable non-REM sleep.
- Upon awakening consistently reported a qualitatively better and more satisfying sleep experience.
What makes this study most notable is that for the first time ever the effects of GABA could be examined solely, isolated from any other factors that might affect sleep quality.
For the trials, 6 men and 4 women, average age of 37.7, who’d tested for a high probability of sleep disorder according to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), were regularly administered 112 mg of PharmaGABA, the equivalent of a full 100 mg of pure GABA, over a period of three weeks. The first and third weeks were active, while the second served as a “wash-out” period. Brain wave activity was monitored using electroencephalography (EEG).
It was observed that in the GABA control group sleep latency, the time between wakefulness and the first stage of sleep, was greatly reduced. Further, the successive deep, non-REM stage of sleep – the most beneficial portion of the cycle – was notably, consistently lengthened.
In addition, blood was analyzed to determine GABA’s rate of absorption, and it was found that GABA was absorbed very rapidly – within 30 minutes of being administered – and just as significantly, trace levels dropped off precipitously soon after. This draws a distinct line between the activity of GABA, which metabolizes fully over a very short time, and of sleeping formulations such as diazepam and others, including non-prescription sleep aids, which linger in the blood long after rising, resulting in a qualitative decline in cognitive and physical condition. Subjects reported feeling refreshed and alert upon rising after the use of GABA, making it a clearly superior aid to sleep.
GABA holds a critical role in the human nervous system, and its absence has been implicated in a variety of neurological diseases. In older clinical studies, dating as far back as 2006, GABA was shown to reduce feelings of anxiety and stress, and to induce relaxation by means of increased total and parasympathetic nerve activity. This has obvious and significant consequences in ameliorating the psychological impact of those occurrences and contributing to a higher sense of overall well-being.
Although GABA is found in a range of foods and can be obtained through everyday diet, certain fermented foods particularly popular in East Asia hold especially high concentrations – foods such as the Korean kimchi. Pharma Foods International Co. Ltd. has developed a proprietary process of deriving GABA from an entirely natural source, the fermentation of lactobacillus, and produces a product of unequalled quality and over 80% purity. PharmaGABA is the only Self-Affirmed GRAS GABA product on the market today, and befitting its leadership position, commands over 70% of the Japanese market, one wherein GABA is a well-acknowledged adjunct to healthy living, and appears in a huge variety of food products, from drinks and confections to daily dietary supplements.
PharmaGABA is proud to share the results of this most recent study proving both benefits to sleep and consequential support of health and quality of life, and its superiority as an adjunct to sleep – in an environment where it’s proving increasingly hard to come by – over common pharmaceutical sleep aids. PharmaGABA can improve human performance, bolster a sense of well-being, and its daily use can help preserve and protect the state of health we all seek for as long as possible.
