Author: Dr. I Han
England & Taiwan
Founder of Formosan Farms & Comfortzonefit CIC
Co-author: Charlotte Palmer
Food specialist, London, UK
Founder of True Health Talks
GABA tea is tea that has undergone a special oxygen-free fermentation process, and as a result has accumulated significant amounts of GABA in the tea leaves.
Despite the fact that GABA tea has appeared on the Western market relatively recently, it has already gained wide popularity among lovers of healthy beverages.
First discovered and developed in 1987; by the Japanese researcher Dr Tsuchida Tojiro, who found that tea’s GABA levels could be enhanced via special processing methods, GABA tea is complex to make: while standard black teas are fully fermented and oolong partly fermented, green tea has zero fermentation. GABA is a unique tea that has undergone a special oxygen free fermentation process in which almost all glutamic acid has been converted to GABA without changing the content of catechin or caffeine.
An introduction to GABA
Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a neurotransmitter, a main inhibitory chemical messenger in the brain. It slows down your brain by blocking specific signals in your central nervous system (your brain and spinal cord).
GABA is a biologically active chemical which provides the electrical impulse from the nervous system to neurons (for example, from the brain to muscular tissue)
GABA is known for producing a calming effect. It’s thought to play a major role in controlling nerve cell hyperactivity associated with anxiety, stress and fear. It relieves mental over stimulation, normalises sleep, blood pressure and circulation, and takes part in neurotransmitter processes in the brain.
When we experience stress, the adrenal glands are triggered to produce hormones that trigger what we know as fight-or-flight responses, like speeding up your heartbeat or giving you an adrenaline rush. GABA counteracts these natural stimulants by relaxing the brain.
GABA is currently supplied by some highly skilful tea factories in Taiwan, which is recognised as the largest supplier of GABA tea in the world.
Many GABA teas are supplied as GABA oolong, because of the complicated skill in fermentation WITHOUT oxidation. Thus, most of the GABA tea can be partially fermented as oolong is in the non-oxidation category.
- GABA red (or black tea) is 100% fermented as non-oxidated. 100% fermented tea may warm up the body and help circulation. While stress-release of the nervous system is effective by drinking GABA tea[1], which aids sleep quality. GABA red tea is effective for most people experiencing stressful situations.
Modern life challenges us to ask; how often do I get a good quality nights sleep?
Under normal conditions GABA is synthesized by itself, but, if you are stressed, or you lack a balance of quality rest and sleep, eat a suboptimal diet and drink alcohol regularly you upset the body’s homeostasis mechanisms and GABA ceases to be synthesized in the adequate volume. It could be expressed as bad moods, depression, a lack of motivation but actually you simply don't have enough Gamma-aminobutyric acid.
The body’s homeostasis mechanisms are sophisticated and highly efficient but their capacity to adapt to stress is not unlimited. If a change in a system is excessive, especially if it happens quickly, adaptation may not always be possible and the system may shift outside the normal range causing illness.
Drinking a high quality GABA tea and incorporating it daily into your routine may offer health benefits that accumulate over time.
References (more can be found online)
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2019.00027/full
[1] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2019.00027/full