GABA: What does it have to do with Absinthe & Thujone?

Gaba & Absinthe

Source: Shutterstock / Zerbor

We are happy to welcome you back to this week’s post! Last time we talked about Absinthe & Thujone. Today we will add some info to this topic. We will talk about an ingredient, which is less known, but also connected to Absinthe & Thujone: GABA.

Absinthe Thujone & GABA: What it is

So, GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid) is not solely limited to Absinthe, but as you will see it is more related to Absinthe than one might think.

I remember the first time I heard about GABA. It was a few years back when I was more into fitness. A cousin of my friend was working in a supplement store across from where I was working. That is why I visited him quite frequently. As always, we were talking about health and fitness issues, when he mentioned that he took some pills in order to have a better sleep. Since he started studying law, which at that point must have been something in the range of 4 to 5 years, he did not get much sleep. So he wanted to make sure that his sleep was not hindered by anything. That is why he took GABA pills. Natural sources of GABA are almonds, broccoli and bananas, just to name a few.

To sum up what it does (in non-scientific terms): It helps to improve the quality of sleep – at least it does for some. It basically slows down the transmitting of stimuli in the nervous system, which will ideally lead to a better relaxation. But: You do not need GABA to relax, some people do. It should not be the first choice.

GABA
GABA: For chemistry lovers 😉

GABA and its relation to Absinthe

Obviously, we are not a fitness page, so what does all of this have to do with Absinthe? Thujone (talked about it last week), one component of Absinthe, works as a so-called GABA blocker, which means that it blocks the function of GABA (who would have thought… 😉 ). Nicotine (cigarettes) support the effect of Thujone acting as a GABA blocker. Therefore, if you drink some glasses of Absinthe (and smoke some cigarettes) it could happen, that you feel more awake. Of course it is hard to say, if this results from the alcohol, nicotine or thujone, acting as a GABA blocker. But technically, Thujone can be made responsible for it.

We want to mention again, that Absinthe contains just very small amounts of Thujone, therefore drinking some glasses is not dangerous and you will not hallucinate. With this post we want to bring some more light into the Absinthe & Thujone discussion.

We would love to read your thoughts and feedback in the comment section down below or on our Facebook page.

Much Love,

Nico from the ALANDIA-Team