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April 15, 2019

Functional ingredient – GABA

by Houqing Liu, Manager, Grain Analysis Office, Satake Manufacturing (Suzhou) Co, Ltd., People’s Republic of China

Let me explain a little about the effect of GABA and the role of functional foods in general, and their contribution to improving people’s lives and the society before getting into the technical side of GABA production.

Food provides essentially three functions to us. First function is "nutrition". Its role is to provide some of the seven nutrients, including energy, minerals, fat, and vitamins in order to sustain life. The second function is "taste" that promotes appetite; good taste and flavour make eating a satisfying experience and help enhance the feeling of happiness and improve life. Third is "health” that affects our bodies functions, such as immunity improvement, disease prevention, symptom alleviation, health maintenance, etc.
 


These three major functions of food were first theorised by Japanese scientists in the 60’s and then later embraced in Western countries. Presently, this theory is widely known, in particular, the third function, which is further being studied through basic research for various applications in many countries.

Various functional foods are developed and sold also in Japan. For example, numerous functional food products have been developed to help suppress elevated blood pressure, prevent or alleviate menopausal disorders, improve sleep, and beauty effects. One of the well-known functional foods in this category is the germinated brown rice/GABA rinse-free rice, enriched with GABA.

GABA: Gamma-aminobutyric acid

GABA is a type of active natural ingredient in which glutamic acid is produced by the action of decarboxylases. A type of non-proteinaceous amino acid that is found abundantly in animals and vegetables, especially in the brain of animals and germ of plants. Also, when a vegetable breaks dormancy and begins to germinate, GABA is produced to sustain its life.

In the early 50’s, scientists found that mammalian brain nerve tissues had a large amount of Glutamic acid, Aspartic acid, and γ-aminobutyric acid, the amino acid components of the three glutamic acid systems. Subsequent studies have shown that glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid act as promoters and suppressors, respectively, of neuronal signaling processes in the brain, which function to prevent the breakdown of the nervous system and play the important roles of neurotransmitters.


Read more HERE.

The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.


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