Gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) may decrease blood pressure and lower stress and anxiety in humans. GABA is available as a supplement usually as a powder or capsule. The GABA content if foods can be significantly increased by fermentation using yeast, bacteria or fungi. For example, lactic acid producing bacteria can synthesise GABA from glutamic acid using the enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase. High GABA foods may have particular beneficial effects on mood as dietary GABA may have inhibitory effects on the central nervous system. In addition, some evidence suggest that high GABA foods may have significant antidepressant effects in mammals. In the food industry, food fungi such as Monascus species are grown in Eastern Asia to produce Monascus-fermented product (MFP). The food derived from these fungi are known to possess a high GABA content and this may have beneficial mental health effects.
The amino acid GABA may affect monoamine levels in the brains of humans and animals. This may explain the anti-stress effects of GABA enriched foods and GABA supplements. The anti-stress effects of GABA may explain the anxiolytic and antidepressant effects observed with its use. Monascus fermented product (MFP) is a food produced by fungus that may have a high GABA content (pictured). Image from: By FotoosVanRobin (Flickr: Red yeast rice) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
For example, in one study researchers investigated the effects of Monascus-fermented product (MFP) on the mood of rats exposed to experimental stress. The administration of the fermented food significantly decreased the depression experienced by the rats. This effect was significantly greater than the effects seen for a GABA supplement and the antidepressant drug fluoxetine. One mechanism identified by the researchers that may explain the effects of GABA was via a reduction in the turner over of dopamine in the brains of the rats, particularly the frontal cortex and striatum. In another study, defatted rice germ enriched with GABA was fed to female humans at a dose of 26 mg per day. The results of the study showed that depression and sleeplessness was decreased in 65 % of the patients taking the GABA. The GABA supplement decrease overall symptoms experienced by the women in 75 % of cases. Therefore GABA enriched foods may have significant antidepressant effects in humans and animals.
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