To borrow a line from Elton John, it's a little bit funny, this feeling inside. As I write the article you're reading, I'm sipping on a potent brew, mixed with ice and tonic water, and I think it's beginning to hit.
I don't feel tipsy, exactly, but I feel something. A light buzz. A twinkle in the synapses.
I’m hardly the first journalist to be drinking on the job, but in my defence, the stuff in the glass beside me isn’t alcohol. It’s Sentia, a concoction created by pharmacologist and addiction researcher Prof David Nutt.
Billed as the future of drinking, Sentia is designed to have a neuroactive effect on the person drinking it.
You’re supposed to feel the way you do after one or two alcoholic drinks. Relaxed, sociable, less inhibited, weirdly good at pool. Effects last 30–40 minutes and all with no hangover, no addictive qualities and barely any calories. Make mine a double, barkeep.
But with no alcohol and no caffeine, how does Sentia work? The idea is that it boosts the activity of a neurotransmitter in the brain called GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid, but try saying that after a few drinks).
It’s sometimes described as an off-switch, something that slows down nerve impulses in our overexcited grey matter. The upshots include lower anxiety, changes in mood and improved sleep.
A stress busting neurotransmitter
GABA occurs naturally in our bodies and we can also get it through our diets.
But there’s debate about whether ingested GABA is bioactive – some researchers doubt that it crosses the blood-brain barrier – so Sentia doesn’t claim to simply increase the amount of GABA swilling around your head.
Instead, the blend of herbs and botanicals in the drink are supposed to increase the effectiveness of the brain’s natural GABA and help absorption of GABA enhancers in the gut. Right now, there’s not much peer-reviewed evidence to back this up.
Researchers at the University of Exeter have taken brain scans of people drinking Sentia and their electroencephalograms were consistent with relaxation and sociability. Nutt is also conducting his own research and GABALabs – the company that makes Sentia – is funding other work.
It’s uncontroversial, however, to say that GABA has an effect on mood and behaviour, says Andrew Scholey, professor of human psychopharmacology at Northumbria. Scholey isn’t involved with Sentia, but has authored papers on GABA.
One, from 2023, looked at the brains of people with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD).
“What that found was, in this population of people with clinical GAD, GABA was lower in the individuals with higher anxiety,” Scholey says. “So, there was a significant correlation.”
In another paper, this one from 2020, Scholey reviewed existing evidence on orally ingested GABA and whether it has an effect on stress or sleep quality.
Despite mixed results, “there was a general pattern that GABA improved sleep quality and there was a hint that it was having an effect on reducing stress as well,” he says.
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Bottoms up
I’ve been drinking Sentia for a week. During that time, I’ve monitored my sleep with an Apple Watch. It showed – perhaps unsurprisingly – that I get more sleep and better quality sleep on Sentia compared with alcoholic drinks.
What can’t be captured with a wearable device is how you feel when you’re drinking Sentia. For me, at least, the effect is subtle. Almost so subtle that I wonder if it’s a placebo and I’m just imagining it. But there is something.
I feel relaxed and content in a way that I don’t after drinking water or soft drinks. Scholey says that measuring the felt effects of psychoactive substances can be difficult.
“With many recreational drugs, there’s a very clear felt effect,” he says. “With something like alcohol, it’s quite hard to separate the actual psychopharmacological effects from things like expectancy.”
Anecdotally, Scholey knows people in the psychopharmacology community who have tried Sentia. Results are mixed, he says. Some feel a potent effect, some none at all.
My gut says I’m somewhere in the middle. And whatever the efficacy, drinking Sentia is a pleasant experience. There are three flavours, of which I’ve tried two. Both have complex botanical notes – they’re more like cocktails than soft drinks.
It’s not hard to understand the appeal as people continue to question their relationship with alcohol. In the UK, the no-and-low alcohol category more than doubled its sales year-on-year in 2024.
Sentia isn’t the only brand that promises a psychoactive effect. Impossibrew, another British brand offering zero-per-cent products, claims its drinks help people relax by affecting their brain waves.
Scholey also works with Ārepa, a brand in New Zealand that produces ‘functional’ drinks that assist cognitive function.
For Nutt, who knows better than most the long-term and population-wide damage that alcohol can cause, Sentia gives drinkers a healthy option at the bar.
As for me, I may be 50-50 on whether it worked, but listen, I’ll have one if you’re having one.
A Sentia taste test
Chandra Sarkar, doctor | Tasted: Sentia Red
“It smells like a Christmas candle, but I’m not too keen on the smoothie texture of it. I didn’t like it mixed with tonic, but over ice, it was quite enjoyable and after two servings, I definitely felt relaxed and a bit lightheaded.
"The effects weren’t long-lasting, but if I was drinking it for the evening, I would have to pace myself. As a doctor, I’d also recommend that people check that the herbal ingredients don’t interact with their medication.”
Gentian Dema, legal executive | Tasted: Sentia Black
“I haven’t had anything alcoholic for over two years, but I still look for refreshment, relaxation and stress relief when I drink something. But this wasn’t to my taste at all. I found it lacking any sweetness or fruitiness.
"Drinking it was astringent, leaving my mouth feeling dry. I had to eat some grapes to remove the flavour. And unfortunately, I didn’t get any buzz at all.”
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