EXCESS GLUTAMATE TRIGGERS + WAYS TO INCREASE GABA

Glutamate plays a major role in nearly every mental illness, and GABA helps relieve suffering and tension, learning to balance them can improve your mental health and well-being

THREAD //

This is part two of my intro to GABA/Glutamate thread, if you haven't read it yet I recommend taking a moment to do so for context: https://twitter.com/ck_eternity_/status/1255944579532181511?s=19

Glutamate works by opening calcium channels, which allow energy to flow through neurons, exciting them and causing them to fire

While this is necessary for thought to occur, too much excitation causes inflammation, and over time neurons may begin to burn out

Glutamate excess has been shown to play a role in a numerous mental illnesses, everything from anxiety/depression to epilepsy

Some people are born with genetic issues with GABA production, while for others imbalance may be caused by different environmental factors

Intelligence has also been correlated with an increase in glutamate receptors

Most drugs and alcohol inhibit glutamate directly or indirectly, so many with so called "addictive personalities" have higher glutamate levels as well

First I want to go through different triggers of excitation, different people may be more sensitive to some than others, so it may be best to try cutting out different things to see what works well for you

After this I'll touch on a few changes you can make to increase GABA

TRIGGERS:

1. Sugar/carbs

When insulin rises glutamate follows

The average person consumes ~70x more sugar per year than at the start of the 20th century, this leads to insulin spikes and resistance, creating imbalance in hormone and NTs

Because of this issues like...

...diabetes can have an impact on mental as well as physical health, limiting intake of sugar and simple carbs (bread, pasta, etc) can help reduce excitation

Avoid ALL processed sugar, starches or low glycemic index fruits like citrus or berries are great alternatives

2. Stimulants

Caffeine, nicotine, and other stimulants block the brain's natural inhibitory system, allowing glutamate levels to rise, and creating a large output of metabolic waste which can overwhelm the body's ability to detox and further contribute to inflammation

3. Poor gut health

Your gut microbiome plays a huge role in mental health, part of the nervous system even extends into the gut and communicates with the brain, an overgrowth of bad baceteria or fungal infections like candida can produce toxins or even glutamate itself!

The baceteria responsible for bad breath also produce glutamate as a waste product

Since bad baceteria in the gut/mouth feed on sugars, reducing excess carb consumption can slow their growth, it's important to consume probiotic foods (kefir, kimchi, saurkraut, etc) daily as well

4. Glutamate in food

Many foods actually contain glutamate as flavoring, the most well know form of this is MSG (monosodium glutamate) used to add savory flavor to certain foods, artificial sweetners like aspartame contain aspartate which can also bind to glutamate receptors

Other common food sources of excitotoxins include:

- Wheat gluten
- Casein (cheese + dairy, goat milk does not contain casein)
- Yeast extracts
- Anything hydrolyzed
- Soy or corn extracts
- Whey protein
- Gelatin
- Many "natural flavorings"

For most people it's impossible to avoid all these, and that's okay, the biggest thing to avoid is heavily processed foods, the amount of glutamate you're going to get from a gelatin capsule or a homemade meal is minimal compared to things like breakfast cereals or instant ramen

5. Nutrient deficiency

Quite a few nutrients are needed to produce GABA, and deficiency is correlated to many mental health issues, these include:

- Magnesium (!!!)
- Zinc
- B6
- Thiamine
- Choline
- Taurine
- K2/D3
- Selenium

Since most of these are found in the highest quantity in meat, eggs, and seafood, supplementation may be helpful if you follow a vegan diet

Excess free calcium can lead to overactivation of calcium channels, to prevent this calcium and magnesium should be consumed in a 1:2 ratio

Limiting glutamate triggers can be extremely helpful, but in some cases imbalance occurs because there is insufficient GABA present to block overexcitation

So what are some things you can do to increase GABA levels?

HOW TO INCREASE GABA

1. Excercise

While excercise temporarily decreases GABA, it upregulates its production longterm, it also upregulates dopamine and endorphin production, overall excercise is one of the best things you can do for your mental health

2. Meditation/yoga

While meditation and yoga have become quite popular recently, it's not without good reason, they lower cortisol (the stress hormone) levels and increase GABA and endorphins in the brain, many studies have shown it can have a positive impact depression

3. Ketogenic or Low Carb diets

There is a growing body of evidence that shows that ketosis can increase the glutamate -> GABA conversion, this is actually the mechanism by which the keto diet prevents epilepsy, for many with severe mental illness/addiction they may be beneficial

4. Wim Hof breathing + Pranayama

Structured breathing excercises are excellent grounding techniques, they reduce cortisol and dynorphin levels while increasing GABA/endorphin release, I think everyone should try this at some point, there are many how-to videos available online

5. Herbs/supplements

There are a number of excellent herbs and supplements available that increase GABA indirectly, here are a few that I've found useful:

- Magnesium (!!!)
- Gotu kola
- Magnolia bark
- Black seed oil
- Rosehips
- Lemon balm
- Holy basil
- Butterfly pea

I do NOT recommend any supplement that increases GABA directly including:

- Phenibut
- Gabapentin
- GABA powder
- Valerian

Alcohol, benzos, opiates, and other sedative drugs should be avoided when trying to rebalance the brain, they all upregulate glutamate with longterm use

*important*

All the info provided in this thread is informational, every individual must decide what they do or don't put in their body, if you see any supplements you find interesting research them before taking anything, some may interact with medications or other supplement

I hope that this thread has been helpful, if you would like further information or have any questions feel free to reply or DM me

Thanks for reading