There are two basic kinds of NTs in our central nervous system: excitatory, aka-- catecholamines and inhibitory NTs. Excitatory NTs are involved in our sympathetic response; commonly known as our “fight or flight” mechanism. These primary NTs include epinephrine, or the more familiar term adrenaline, norepinephrine or noradrenaline, dopamine, histamine, and glutamate. Our inhibitory NTs are involved in our parasympathetic response; better known as our “rest and digest” mechanism. The inhibitory NTs are serotonin and GABA. These are our feel-good NTs that down-regulate our “fight or flight” response.

When these NTs are imbalanced or depleted, it may cause you to be easily agitated or angered, tension, over-aroused, fear, stress, aggressive behaviors, violent impulses, obsessive compulsive actions and thoughts, anxiety and sleep disturbances.

In this conversation I’m going to talk about Glutamate one of your primary excitatory neurotransmitters, and GABA, which stands for gamma-Aminobutyric acid. Glutamate has many important roles like stimulating your brain cells so you can talk, think, process new information, pay attention, and store information in short- and long-term memory. As a matter of fact, studies suggest that high levels of glutamate receptors are correlated with superior abilities in learning and memory. Unfortunately, too much glutamate can lead to too much acetylcholine, which has a stimulating effect as well and puts one into a perpetual state of fight or flight creating high levels of anxiety, fear, insomnia, restlessness, nervousness, etc. Too much glutamate also correlates with an increased risk of stroke and seizures.

On the other hand, GABA’s primary role is to calm the brain, slow things down, and relax you. It is vital for regulating sleep, body temperature, appetite, thirst, sexual arousal and desire, and action of the pituitary, HPA axis, and the rest and digest ̶ autonomic system. Think of Glutamate as the accelerator and GABA is the brakes. Glutamate and GABA are meant to be balanced. When GABA is low, glutamate is high and vice versa. Glutamate is actually the precursor to GABA, and any excess is supposed to be converted automatically into GABA. But here’s the catch! The primary enzyme that makes the conversion is called GAD. Many folks possess a genetic mutation of GAD. So, if you have symptoms of agitation, nervousness or anxiousness, difficulty falling or staying asleep, or muscle tension you’re not making that conversion well and the balance of the two are being disturbed.

Here’s where the supplement Pro-GAD Enhancer™ by Neuro Biologix comes in. The new Pro GAD Enhancer™ includes: Kava Kava, NAC, glycine, zinc and magnesium -- all designed to help with relaxation and metabolize GABA.

Kava kava is an herb that is approved for the treatment of anxiety, stress, restlessness, tension, and agitation. This herbal product’s active constituents are the kavalactones (also called kavapyrones), that have been shown to have anti-anxiety properties by a broad inhibition of neuronal firing, modulating GABA receptors, as well as inhibiting inflammation.

Several large studies with over 1500 participants each monitored the safety of daily kava use over 4–7 weeks, none of which had any occurrence of hepatotoxicity. However, at present, caution is especially advisable in individuals with current or past liver dysfunction and in older adults who often have reduced hepatic capacity to metabolize pharmaceuticals. Always, check with your doctor and pharmacists when taking Kava Kava and certain medications.