Botanicals & extracts
It inhibits the enzyme that clears GABA — the same target as an epilepsy drug. Whether that survives a cup of tea is the question.
Not yet investigated
It inhibits the enzyme that clears GABA — the same target as an epilepsy drug. Whether that survives a cup of tea is the question.
This star is on the map because the show intends to take the question apart properly — the trials, how it is actually tested, whether the thing sold is the thing studied. That work is not done yet, and nothing here should be read as a conclusion. When the investigation is published it will appear on this page.
What we are reading
Gathered for the investigation and not yet written up. Each note says what the paper does and does not show.
A real, named mechanism rather than 'calming': the methanol extract inhibits GABA transaminase, the enzyme that breaks GABA down. Rosmarinic acid is the main active — 40% inhibition at 100 µg/mL, and about 1.5% of the dry leaf. GABA-T is the target of vigabatrin, a licensed anticonvulsant, so this is a herb and a drug aiming at the same enzyme. The gap is everything between an in-vitro rat-brain assay and a human who drank tea.
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The full citation list for each investigation, the studies that didn't make the episode, and any corrections — sent the morning it publishes.
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