The Prospects of GABA in China

Low sleep quality has become one of the acute issues plaguing modern Chinese people. According to Mintel’s consumer survey¹, a quarter (25%) of interviewees aged between 18-39 years old reported emotional problems around bedtime; One in five had emotional problems when they woke up. Data from Chinese Sleep Research Society² also show that the insomnia incidence among Chinese adults is 38%, meaning more than 300 million Chinese have sleep disorders.

Why do people lose sleep?

More than half of those who suffer from insomnia attribute the problem to emotional distress (52.5%), life pressure (52.3%), and work pressure (49%), according to the 2020 Sleemon China Sleep Index Report³.

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Note: Emotional factors refer to emotions other than emotional distress.

Anxiety and irritability are the most dominant emotional distresses leading to insomnia, accounting for 46.6%, exceeding other emotions.

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GABA becomes an increasingly popular ingredient in the Chinese sleep-aiding food market.

In addition to using sleep aid products such as sleep pillows, more consumers are looking for foods to help them solve sleep disorders.

According to iiMedia Research², in 2021, 45.3% of Chinese Internet users bought vitamin supplements and 29.5% bought melatonin supplements. In addition, 22.2%, 19.3%, and 15.9% of consumers bought herbal extract, nicotinamide mononucleotide, and glycine as sleep-aiding food products, respectively.

γ-aminobutyric acid, also known as GABA, is an emerging herbal extract ingredient widely used by Chinese brands to produce innovative products for stress relief and sleep aid. It has been proven to have the functions of reducing anxiety, blood pressure, and nerve arousal, as well as aiding sleep.

China has strict food safety standards for the extraction and production of GABA raw material, stipulating that it must be extracted from natural plants and then fermented by lactic acid bacteria. Therefore, compared with melatonin, which directly acts on the human brain, GABA is safer without certain side effects such as dizziness and neurasthenia.

In recent years, the rise of Internet-based new functional food brands, represented by BUFFX, Wonderlab, Minayo, and Nelo, boost the popularity of and people’s recognition towards GABA among Chinese consumers. GABA has been increasingly used in sleep-aiding functional foods, covering gummy, dairy, juice, and many other food and beverage categories. It is expected to replace melatonin as a more popular raw material for sleep-aiding food.