Best known for its soy sauce products, the company has been in operations for more than 135 years and expanded into other categories, including seasonings, ready-to-cook and ready-to-heat foods, and vinegar beverages, over time.
On the back of “strong sales” of GABA100 Sleep Vinegar, the first product from the GABA100 series introduced in September 2023, Yamamori developed a second product targeting inner beauty consumers.
Named GABA100 Hadadan (Bouncy Skin) Vinegar, it was registered as a Foods with Function Claim (FFC) and presales at select retailers began in November 2024.
The product was officially launched at supermarkets, drugstores, and online platforms on January 10.
In a survey conducted by the firm in March 2024, 78.4% of 241 respondents said that they associate vinegar drinks with beauty effects.
However, another survey held in April 2024 found that 67% of people who drink beauty drinks at least once a month have some “dissatisfactions”. These include price, effectiveness, calorie content, and taste.
To address these needs, Yamamori’s new vinegar drink contains GABA100, an ingredient discovered during the company’s brewing research process and is being produced in-house.
“GABA100 Hadadan Vinegar is a sugar-free, pomegranate-flavoured vinegar beverage recommended for women in their 30s and 40s who are concerned about their skin condition, especially dry skin. The recommended daily intake is 30ml, diluted with four times of water or other liquid. Each serving of this contains 100mg of GABA.
“Each bottle (500ml) makes about 16 cups, with each cup being low in calories (5kcal), making it a cost-effective product that will satisfy even those who are dissatisfied with existing beauty drinks,” the firm said.
In Japan, GABA is approved as a functional food ingredient for three functions, specifically maintaining skin elasticity and healthy skin for those who are concerned about dry skin; improving sleep quality (depth of sleep) and helping the user wake up feeling refreshed; and relieving temporary mental stress and fatigue caused by work or study.
Its mechanism of action comprises inhibiting the secretion of noradrenaline (a neurotransmitter and a hormone that plays an important role in the body’s fight-or-flight response) at the sympathetic nerve terminal, giving priority to the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps alleviate stress.
Effect on elasticity
The stress-relieving effect of GABA has been reported to be a key factor that leads to healthy skin.
As part of Yamamori’s registration of GABA100 Hadadan (Bouncy Skin) Vinegar as an FFC, the company cited several studies to back its claims.
One of these is a randomised, double-blind, parallel-group comparative study conducted on women aged 30 to 50 who experienced rough skin caused by stress.
The participants were divided into an intervention group that was given a test product containing 100mg of GABA, and a control group that took a placebo.
After eight weeks, the intervention group was found to have significantly higher values for total viscoelasticity, net elasticity, and return rate than the control group. These results suggest that the decrease in skin elasticity was suppressed in the intervention group.
“It can be said that taking 100mg of GABA per day for eight weeks has the functionality of contributing to skin health by maintaining skin elasticity, which is part of the skin’s function.”
