“I spent most of my first 20 years as a doctor trying to treat people with alcohol withdrawal, alcohol craving, alcohol brain damage.” According to the latest statistics, alcohol-related deaths in the UK hit a record high in 2023, exceeding 10,000 for the first time.
Sentia is a mix of natural ingredients, some for Gaba-enhancement, some for flavour, including blackberry juice, aronia, magnolia, linden, passionflower, liquorice, ashwagandha and more – plus what is described on the label as “GABA Labs proprietary blend” – which includes those synthetic Gaba-targeting molecules Nutt was talking about.
The sale of pure Gaba (it can be synthesised by fermenting food) is prohibited in the UK and EU due to concerns over potential for misuse, but it’s legal in the US and Japan, where you can buy myriad Gaba supplements, with dosages ranging from 10mg to 750mg, not to mention Gaba-enhanced chocolate, gummies, drinks – and it doesn’t stop there.
“Gaba is the off switch of the brain,” says the neuropsychopharmacologist Prof David Nutt, of Imperial College London, who is also one of the creators of Sentia.
“What alcohol does, and what Sentia does, is enhance the Gaba there to take away that anxiety, so you can be as social as you really want to be.”.
