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Scientists Grow Decaffeinated Coffee Plants
An anonymous reader writes "According to a CBC News story, researchers have genetically modified coffee seedlings to produce up to 70 per cent less caffeine." The Japanese researchers quoted in the article say "..demand for decaffeinated coffee is growing worldwide. Caffeine can trigger palpitations, increase blood pressure and disrupt sleep in sensitive people", and so "..used a tool called RNA interference to genetically engineer the one-year-old plants." Seems like these boffins may be competing against the University Of Hawaii researchers we mentioned last year to take away your buzz.
I mean really, if it can't help me stay up all night coding whats the point?
"It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists." -Ludwig Wittgenstein
How about they get working on super-caffeinated coffee? And we can call it Coffee 2. Then the regular caffeinated version of coffee can be renamed to Coffee 2. But the super-caffeinated version will be Coffee 2 Hi-Caffeine and the regular-caffeinated version will be Coffee 2 Full-Caffeine.
i rerereally cococould uuuuse thththis stufffff.
about as popular as dry water.
Or alcohol-free beer.
"Smoking helps you lose weight - one lung at a time" -- A. E. Neumann
Caffeine can trigger palpitations, increase blood pressure and disrupt sleep in sensitive people
:/
I don't think this is a good idea to get "sensitive people" used to the taste of stuff which is not good for them.
This is like Coke Light : though it has no sugar inside it still tastes exageratedly sweet and this would be a better idea to get the "users" curious about differently tasted products.
I am afraid, at the end of the story, everything will taste the same and recipe will consist of posologies.
Trolling using another account since 2005.
opiate free poppy plantations?
Today's Dilbert seems apropos.
proof, n. A demonstration that a conclusion is implied by certain premises and axioms.
Isn't the caffeine in the coffee the point of coffee?
Omnis amans amens
*Jaw drops open*
;-)
This is blasphemy!! This, this, this... This is an outrage! Oh, the humanity!
It's time to stop this nonsense once and for all! Coders, Admins, hackers, and yes, even Microsoft employees, virus writers and marketdroids, repeat after me:
No to GMO! We want Real Coffee!
I mean, Decaf' Coffee? If God wanted us to drink this, he would not have invented Starbucks!
Oh, wait... I am a tea drinker...
Err... Well, never mind me. Carry on...
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
Until reading this I was fairly neutral about the GM issue.
On one hand I thought greenpeace were a load of insane hippies who are in need of a damn good kicking, but I was also suspicious of the motives of the biotech companies. I was, however, prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Now I know. Greenpeace are right! Those bastards mean to destroy us all, and I have proof!!!
So we must protect the fools who, in spite of the symptoms, insist on drinking coffee. Not only do we have to do that, but we'll just have to do it by letting loose modifed genomes with no idea of how this will change the ecosystem?
GM food has not been proved safe in long term cultivation and it will not help to relieve hunger in 3rd world countries. Hunger is a political problem, not an agricultural problem. The production capacity of the Earth would feed the current and future population very well if the distribution of food were done fairly.
BOO! TERRO
Someone needs to look at what the whole drive for effectless "drugs" tells us about society. THC free hemp yes, because hemp is a useful plant (makes good cloth,easier to grow than cotton). But surely the sole purpose of coffee beans is to produce...coffee? If you don't like the side effects, there are any number of alternatives. Decaffeinated coffee is like devaluing the brand name.
Or perhaps I've missed the business implications. Perhaps I should just patent my new process for making alcohol free vodka, and get rich.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
I like chocolate ice cream! Can I get modded up now?
A two sentence post expressing a personal preference shouldn't satisfy anyone's definition of insight.
hey i realise there's a dilbert for every occasion. but this is um, not quite spooky, but close
I'd wait for SP1 before drinking an untested release.
You would have thought that now scientists have decided they were wrong about cholesterol and that eating margarine rather than butter and cutting out eggs was actually "a really bad idea"(TM the food industry) they'd learn to leave alone.
We spent millions of years to evolving to eat the shit that grows around us - not some factory grown crap that no-one actually has any idea about what it's effects on everything else (us, other plants, the biosphere) might be. Some scientist with too much funding and driven by greedy food corporations (Hi Monsanto!) simply is not going to improve on what we evolved to consume.
Sometimes I despair at the thought that a company will produce "Batchelor Chow" (and then realise they have - it's called Pot Noodle in the UK). And that it won't be Matrix style uber-computers feeding us recycled human but uber-corporations run by humans.
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
to buy my thc-free marjiuana before.
But now I'm not so sure.
I'm kind of surprised that people are so shocked that someone might actually make, or drink, decaffinated coffee. Its not like this is a perversion of nature or something, the point is that there is a huge market out there for the stuff. Millions of people drink decaf every day.
We may not understand it, but the point is that genetically modifying the plant to produce less caffeine is both safer, and tastes better, than whatever god-awful shit they do to it now.
I guess I just think this is a cool, and potentially profitable use for the level of genetic engineering that we are able to do nowadays. If this kind of stuff works, and makes money, then we get to see the really neat stuff down the road!
Decaffeinated diet coke (aka water).
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
I'm sure this story will be full of "what's the point?!" comments. Just a single data point / anecdotal bit of evidence. I always had trouble getting to sleep (and, consequently, getting up in the morning) although I stuck to only two or three cups of instant, and nothing after midday/1pm. Just for the hell of it, I had a cup of tea for my morning kickstart a couple of weeks ago, and stayed off coffee the rest of the day. Result: solid refreshing sleep;
4) happiness! (better than profit! any day...)
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
I'm all for decaf. At least for my co-workers.
...consumption of coffee is expected to increase by over 200 percent.
Decaf is like masturbation. When it is all you have it is ok. But, man you would die for the real thing!
Don't laugh. Just like me you are reading slashdot. You know what I am talking about;)
Personally I like coffee for the taste, the caffeine is also an added reward.
Some people want to have de-caf for health reasons. Fine...no problem there, to each his own. But these guys are hoping on to tap into this market with Genetically Modified coffee!
In my experience the people who go for the healthy alternative also want their food to be GM free. Also a lot of restaurants/cafes promote themselves as being GM free.
I think they may have sliced off a chunk of their potential sales market.
Oh well, not my problem...time for an espresso.
For reference, here's a summary of some current decaffeination processes. An excerpt:
"Coffee is decaffeinated using a variety of processes. All of which are relatively harmless to your health, but harmful to the beverage quality."
Caffeine can trigger palpitations, increase blood pressure and disrupt sleep in sensitive people
Yeah, great stuff!
a pack of nicotine free cigarettes with every purchase.
Surely the kind of person who thinks caffeine will kill them, is hardly likely to touch a genetically modified plant? Never mind that maize, wheat, barley et al are all genetically modified grass, and cabbages, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and swedes are all genetically modified turnips. OK, in those cases the GM was done the slow way, but evolution is still technically genetic modification.
:) but a worthwhile one}.
.....
If ever anyone needed concrete evidence that the world is going stark, raving bonkers, this is surely it. First it was Lucozade Light {for the benefit of foreigners, Lucozade is a high-calorie drink with glucose for an instant energy boost. Table sugar is sucrose, which the body has to hydrolyse into glucose and fructose.} The whole point of Lucozade is to provide quickly-assimilated calories. If you need fewer calories then just drink less; if you still need fluid then dilute it with water.
Not so long ago we ate loads of fried food, fat and sugar, we smoked woodbines, we drank beer and whisky all the time and we didn't die! We weren't all pasty-faced, nesh asthmatics either. Nowadays it is "trendy" to be a health freak, so people latch onto any convenient buzz-words without thinking properly what they mean. Then they drive their cars from the bedroom to the bathroom to the gym, where they pay good money to sit on a fake bike and pedal nowhere. I bet some young mother somewhere is probably bringing up a baby exclusively on soya milk because she thinks breast milk is bad for you.
Last year, in a Tesco supermarket, I found Organic Milk -- available in skimmed and semi-skimmed varieties, but not full cream. So, you go organic to get nothing artificial added, then they go and take something natural away. {it's not that long ago I remember drinking unpasteurised milk - a test of faith in the immune system
What next, decaffeinated Red Bull? For crying out loud, if you don't like the thought of caffeine, then don't drink coffee! Or drink tea, which contains something that stops your body absorbing caffeine.
Somebody needs to patent a home coffee decaffeinator - and maybe a home milk skimmer/semi-skimmer - to sell to the trendy brigade. Or, failing that, a way of distributing a clue
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
We already have several methods for removing caffeine from coffee much more efficiently than this, so what is the point. I would have much more respect for work on GMOs if the scientists concentrated more on areas which would benefit mankind rather than business interests.
You can find the time to reduce the caffeine but you can't figure out how to get half the crap out of cigarettes or junk out of fatty foods.
Gimme something of use to me. Caffeine is the only reason I'm starbucks' bitch.
Decaf is nowadays produced by removing caffeine from coffee beans using liquid or supercritical CO2, instead of organic solvents used in the old days. The current process is friendly to the environment (CO2 can easily be recycled), and safe to the consumer as well.
Personally, I do not object genetic modification of the plants, but I think many people (especially Europeans) do. Decaf is also considered a 'healthy' product, and it might be a bad marketing match to introduce modern biotech there. Furthermore, I doubt it will taste any better, since caffeine itself has a bitter flavor to it that might be important in the taste of 'real' coffee.
One question remains: Where does the caffeine they currently remove go? And: Will caffeine become more expensive when there are no 'leftovers' from removing it from coffee?
Don't get me wrong... I was all for genetic research and modification. I was naive enough to think the scientists would only do ethical stuff, like growing chicken that lay cubic eggs for efficient storage and transportation, and solve the world hunger by engineering better socks.
:-P
But no! They just had to go for us professional nerds and geeks! They just had to attack the foundation of our daily life... this can't continue... research must stop!
--
1. Ban popular addictive substance
2. ???
3. Profit!!
Coffee is both popular and cheap, so something had to be done about it. Banning the traditional kind and replacing it with a kinder, gentler version is the first step. Bombing coffee-growing regions while turning a blind eye to coffee-lords who grow new hi-grade plants is the next step. Finally, a 25% cut of what is definitely going to be big business...
Ites' first rule of thumb says "follow the money", and for caffeine-free coffee this seems the only plausible plot. Certainly no-one is actually going to buy the castrated version.
Sig for sale or rent. One previous user. Inquire within.
You might be surprised to hear this, but coffee has became probably THE national drink of Japan. It's really an jaw-dropping thing because people usually have a concept where they are sipping green tea all the time.
The thing is, though, that they actually seem to genuinely like the stupid beverage (and almost everybody drinks it black - and by almost i mean 99.9% of the people), because they don't really have any perceptable needs for the caffine.
Being that most everybody is extremely health-conscious here*, it is not surprising that they are making "natural" decaf coffee - or I should say, decaf coffee that has not gone through the decaf cycle (which to many, ruins the taste).
* there is a dichotomy here - because while many guys goes on diets and somesuch, they are almost always horrible workaholics and a large percentage smokes and drinks like it's going out of style. So, it's almost like hipocritical health consciousness - but hypocritical or not, the demand is still there for the low-caffine beverage.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
Cool! Are there any side effects?
Six sick
The way most coffee is decafinated these days is with a process called the "Swiss water method".
This involves soaking unroasted coffee beans in water. The water absorbs the coffee flavor and the caffine.
These beans are then trown out, the water is filtered of caffine, and only caffine. To do this the water is pased through a carbon filter.
The result is decaf coffee flavoured water. This water is used to soak a new batch of beans. Scince the water is super saturated with coffee flavour, it cannot abosorb any more flavour, but it can still absorb caffine. So the caffine is removed from the beans whilst keeping the flavour. The water is used for about 3 batches then the whole process starts again with new water.
The extra steps involved in decafinating coffee is what makes it a bit more expensive. So next time you have a decaf coffee, just think of all the steps involved to make it that way. Ohh by the way, coffee needs do be 97% free of caffine to be called decaf.
If you want to know how i know all this, i help roast coffee for Gloria Jeans
=If life was easy, i would be out of a job=
How about they come up with a Kona plant that grows to maturity in your back yard in less than one month?
It's only funny until someone gets hurt. Then, it's hilarious.
Of course there caffeine-free beverages that are better than coffee. But all of those contain alcohol and some people occasionally want to drink something that is both alcohol AND caffeine free.
I'm not sure why. People can be weird sometimes.
LOL IM A PROGRAMMER LOL I DRINK COFFEE LOL CAFFEINE LOL DONT COME TO CLOSE LOL I HAVE THE SHAKES AND MIGHT SNAP ROFL I HAVENT HAD MY MORNING CUP OF COFFEE LOL
Unfortunatly, I've met more imaginative heroin addicts.
I fucking hate this caffeine gimmick, it's not that hard to stay up late when coding, or make it to work in the morning without bending over for caffeine.
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
Seriously, ditching caffeine last year has had many benefits: more energy, better concentration, easier time sleeping, and more restful sleep. Plus no frantic lunges for the mug when those caffeine deprivation headaches set in.
These days I'll brew up strong decaf (to make up for the flavor loss from decaffeination), herbal tea (roibos, yum), and decaf black tea. I save those wonderful espressos, cappuccinos, etc. for those times when I'm terribly exhausted, at which point the caffeine has a big big effect since the addiction's gone. Or I'll drink a mate for a similar kick.
Or a "seedless watermelon"!
Or any of those monstrous "seedless grapes"!
Or, God forbid, monstrosities such as "broccoflower"!
Honestly, you people who use the term "frankenfood" have absolutley no clue what you are talking about. Get a remedial education about what you actually do eat, then come back!
Curb CO2 emissions: Kill yourself today!
I mean, who is fucked up enough to want such products? Whats the next glorious "light"-idea? Castrated husbands?
--
"The more prohibitions there are, The poorer the people will be" -- Lao Tse
Scientists have also found a way to remove Dihydrogen Monoxide from water in a process called "deaquificiation".
Wally has so much caffine in his system that he can "coast" for a few minutes.
However, look at it like this: the Pointy Haired Boss is also down, so there may be good to come out of this....
www.eFax.com are spammers
In stead of "Scientists Grow Decaffeinated Coffee Plants" I want ot see headlines like...:-
Scientists Grow caffeinated Coffee Plants with 50% more Caffine
or
Scientist grow a Jolt Cola Plant
or
Scientist grom a Caffine/Pizza combo plant
Why _less_ caffine??
Jaj
My GOD man, have they any decency? the infadels!! someone must alert Mr. GWB that these people exist.
What next? Bio-engineered hunans to think less, and consume more?
;-)
You haven't been to your local mall lately, have you?
Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
Actually they are GM - the plant cells (in the form of a 'callus') weren't just treated with RNAi, they were modified by permanently inserting a construct that expresses the appropriate RNAi (designed to repress a gene necessary for caffeine synthesis). They then used these cells to produce seedlings with reduced caffeine content which (assuming the insert is stable) will pass this property on to their offspring (even though, as you say, the original gene is still intact).
Ask this question of the next coffe drinker you see: "Can you get by a day at work without using mind-altering chemicals? If not, howcome I can't relax in the afternoon with mine?"
I hope their new bean has a unique and interesting taste; if so, I'll definitely be buying it--caffeine or not. But these guys shouldn't be focusing on caffeine, they should be trying to produce a coffee bean that can be grown easily in many regions, yet tastes as good as Jamaica Blue Mountain. They should be making coffees that taste more like chocolate, or like orange or like a thousand other things.
"A *person* is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."
- 'K' in Men in Black.
Are there any side effects?
Annoying all-caps titles.
just to invent a nontoxic brown magic marker for your teeth.
Manually implemented sigs are of unlimited length...
We moved so fast to see if we could, nobody asked if we should!
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
Luckily, all my coworkers smoke crack instead of drinking coffee on their breaks, so there's no risk of me becoming a caffiene addict.
'I ain't a liar, baby, and I ain't proud I just want what I'm not allowed.' -- Violent Femmes, 36-24-36
I'm a biotech student, and as such genetic modification is hardly anathema to me;
BUT DON'T FUCK WITH MY DAMN COFFEE!
And yes, I actually do like the taste of it (at least the stuff I make). I would be curious to find out if this new stuff tasted any good...
They are evil sinners, and will suffer horrible tortures in the afterlife!!! They are but Tools of Satan to remove caffeine from the Coffee Shrub!!! Makes me sooooo angry!!! If I hadn't traded in my Hunting Rifle for a Hunting Camara, there lives would be in danger!!!
HenryJamesFeltus.com
I used to drink about 4 cans of soda and a pot of coffee every day. Cup of coffee and two cigarettes were my breakfast. Caffiene was my lifeblood, but when I decided to quit smoking, I decided that I would be no chemical's bitch. Further, in a fit of masochism, I decided I would get the asshole out of my system all at once, so on the same day, caffiene & nicotine left my life and withdrawal entered it.
I was expecting that getting rid of cigarettes would make me feel better, and it did. My heart stopped pounding, my sense of smell returned, my lung capacity increased, all the things I was led to believe.
What I was not expecting was that quitting caffiene made me feel even better.
I slept better, I woke up with more energy and felt more lively throughout my day. I quit having headaches on the weekends when I decide to sleep late. I found that a 15-minute cat-nap at around five o'clock would let me stay up until two in the morning without any serious repercussions.
In short, in the eighteen months since I gave it up, I have never once considered going back. Giving up caffiene is maybe the best health decision I have ever made.
But, I still love the taste of coffee. I spent years acquiring the taste, and I didn't give up that taste just because I gave up caffiene. Decaf fits my needs. It's got less caffiene than a chocolate bar, and still tastes like coffee. I can get my unleaded and drink it, too.
Now, if they could make caffiene-free coke not suck, I'd be in business.
Living without caffiene is a bit like having TiVO. You have to stop yourself from evangelizing to the people around you constantly, lest you alienate everyone by not shutting up about how great it is.
Even Jesus hates listening to Creed.
Rumor has it John Ashcroft is trying to get it declared as a controlled substance.
"And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST
If these coffee plants contain 70% less caffeine, I wonder how succeptible to pests they will be since caffeine acts as an insecticide to prevent insects from tearing the coffee plant to shreds.
Some of us like the taste of coffee, but don't like the effects.
Believe me, I love a good caffeine buzz -- and for the longest time, I didn't think it was affecting me, because I could easily go to sleep at night, and I could sleep for 12 hours at a stretch, too!
Problem was, I was always tired. No amount of sleep was enough. My doctor suggested quitting caffeine -- and it worked! Like a charm. Sure, I had a pounding headache for the first week, but after that, I felt great, and I could wake up refreshed after a normal amount of sleep. I actually had *more* energy than I did while on caffeine.
I grew up drinking coffee. My dad taught me how to brew it when I was four. Cheap decaf sucks -- my understanding is that they use chlorine in the process, but whatever the reason, cheap decaf makes my stomach churn. It also tastes awful. Expensive decaf is better, but still just a little less tasty than the real deal.
If they can make a plant that will give me yummy coffee and little caffeine, I'm all for it!
-monique
This is science run AMOK. It must be stopped.