Comment · Thu, October 16, 2025 · ND Owner
What is the difference between GABA and PharmaGABA?
Original post in this thread
nexusoflife · 15 points
I was looking to experiment with supplementing GABA but I am unsure if I should buy regular GABA or PharmaGABA. I have read that GABA is typically chemically synthesized whereas PharmaGABA is fermented from lactobacillus bacteria making it more bioavailable than regular GABA. But I have also read that some people still get benefits from regular GABA despite it reportedly not being able to cross the blood brain barrier. I wanted to get the perspectives of people with more experience in this area.
What they were answering
Direct reply to the original post — see the thread post above.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · ND Owner
PharmaGABA uses misleading marketing and data to try to trick consumers. All GABA on the market these days is made using fermentation. The fully synthetic routes used decades ago have all been replaced with fermentation ones. I go into it in detail in my other comment below.
Our GABA is literally fermented GABA. Creating GABA is not complex. It's literally just taking L-glutamic acid and decarboxylating it to GABA. The industry standard for making L-glutamic acid right now is fermentation via Corynebacterium glutamicum. That is then converted into GABA using an enzyme isolated from bacteria: glutamate decarboxylase. PharmaGABA just uses a different bacteria called Lactobacillus hilgardii. However, it's all the same simple process that makes the same damn chemical structure. Do you really care if your GABA was fermented using Lactobacillus hilgardii or Corynebacterium glutamicum? Have you ever even heard those words before today? This idea that PharmaGABA is different, and works better, is total and complete horseshit propagated by the people selling it to try to trick consumers. Don't fall for the BS.