Meet PharmaGABA®, a version of the GABA neurotransmitter that’s manufactured using a fermentation process that isn’t too dissimilar from the one used to make cheese, wine, and other fermented foods.

Acclaimed integrative medicine doctor Robert Rountree, M.D., has been using the bioactive GABA to help clients sleep for decades, to great success.*

“It’s an amazing substance,” Rountree previously told mindbodygreen’s co-CEO Jason Wachob. “It’s been shown to bind to the same GABA aminobutyric acid receptors in the brain that help us calm down and relax.”*

Rountree explained that some of his medical colleagues were at first doubtful that manufactured GABA could have the same effects as the real deal, but recent research has shown otherwise. In one 2018 double-blind, placebo-controlled trial on 40 patients who reported difficulty falling asleep, a four-week GABA regimen2 was shown to decrease their sleep latency (the time it takes someone to fall asleep) and increase sleep efficacy (the percentage of time in bed someone actually spends sleeping).*

“I wouldn’t say that it knocks you out,” Rountree clarifies. “It just makes you feel calmer and more relaxed, and there are studies showing that it actually affects brainwaves.”*

In one of those clinical trials, EEG measurements found that GABA, compared to water and L-theanine (another amino acid that’s thought to promote sleep), significantly increased the brain’s alpha waves3 (relaxing) and decreased its beta waves (stimulating) within an hour of administration.* In short, Rountree says? “It’s the real deal.”