Does Gaba Work?

Hello Fellow Students!

I just got a case of Gaba Tea drink from the Jones Soda company.  They wanted me to test out their drink supplement for students and I’ve performed my own experiment with amazing results.

Gaba Research

Gaba is a “naturally produced amino acid and is one of the key neurotransmitters in the regulation of proper brain functionality; it helps to increase the production of alpha brain waves, known to enhance focus + clarity.  At the same time it decreases beta brain waves, which are linked to nervousness and scattered thoughts.” (Jones Gaba).

Now I’m usually quite skeptical about new supplements for increased brain power as usually 90% of them are simply packed with sugar (cough red bull) and get you so hopped up on sugar that you feel amazing regardless of what else is in there.  From my research on gaba however, I’ve found quite a bit of research that both refutes and confirms gaba as a study tool.  In my search to see documented proof of the advantages of Gaba the people at Jones Gaba sent me some research data that for me is still in my opinion only exploratory but I’ll let you guys be the judge.

Gaba Research Data

So based on the research I was given, two studies popped out for me.  The first study was performed on school children being dosed with 100mg of Gaba which tried to find out if Gaba would improve students learning and test taking skills.  An N of 54 was used for each experiment with a P value of < 0.10. (see results below)

The Second Study was on Gaba and improved video game scores.  This study had an N of 10 and a P value of 0.06.  Each of these studies do not appear to have much academic rigor and would not be accepted in any kind of academic journal due to their low level of significance and their incredibly low number of subjects (any university student knows you can’t perform a study on 10 ppl and expect significant results).

Does Jones Gaba Work?

Unconvinced from the supposedly ‘academic’ data I decided to try Gaba myself and dose myself.  I worked on the included Sudoku puzzles, solving one puzzle then dosing myself and trying the second puzzle.  I put the entire thing together in a video which you can watch here:

Amazingly I saw an improvement of over 10 minutes!  Now there are some obvious problems with my little experiment; warming up with a few sudoku’s before starting the experiment being a perfect example.  However, for all my skepticism I would definitely suggest you run out and buy yourself a couple bottles and try it yourself.  You might be amazed by the results.

My Only Suggestions To Jones Gaba

Cut as much sugar as possible:  Sugar is bad for your general and academic health.  Try to cut some more out and we will be golden.

Get some more studies done:  Get some studies that have significant P values and have N’s of over 100!  If you want to win over college kids, you must run large scale studies, students aren’t stupid and can smell bullshit.

Final Thoughts on the Gaba Supplement

As an online tutor and blogger, it is really important that I prescribe sound advice.  Although the product does have some problems, I would suggest students give this product a try, as a test during a low lying period in their semester.  If they feel confident about using the supplement only then should you try to use it before writing a paper or an exam.

Here is the Jones Gaba main site if you’d like to check it out for yourself.

Liam McIvor Martin