Slashdot Mirror
Scientist Develops Caffeinated Baked Goods
Zephyros writes "The AP is reporting on a scientist who has found a way to get caffeine into donuts, bagels, and other baked goods without the bitter flavor. Each piece has as much caffeine as two cups of coffee. No word on when or where they will be available, but for those of us that just don't get the same kick from the morning cuppa that we used to, this may be another tasty delivery vector to look forward to for that jump-start."
Estimating from the LD50 of Caffeine in Rats, that would be pretty freaking hard. Assuming no major underlying cardiac conditions, it would take around 10g of pure Caffeine to kill the average person. Double that for the average Slashdotter (who is both noticably more massive than average, AND likely to be quite Caffeine resistant, rather like trying to kill a Heroine addict with other, lesser depressants with similar Modes of Action). As for how much it takes to makes the average person start tripping balls and THINK they're dying, well that IS a lot lower.
I took around 2 grams of caffiene once (important lesson: when dealing with chemicals, don't just eye stuff, buy what you need to accurately measure).
Horribly unpleasent night, pretty shitty day after, and a general aversion to caffiene for a while..but really, the dangers of caffiene OD is really overstated. I'd certainly not recommend anyone OD, and it can be fatal if you REALLY overdo it, but to get to that point you will likely start experiencing seriously unpleasent side effects long before you get near fatal dosages.
Unless you're taking the caffiene raw like I was, it isn't easy to even drink/eat enough caffinated products to get anywhere near the DangerZone(tm). YMMV of course.
Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
According to http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/caffeine/caffeine_ dose.shtml, the lethal oral dose ranges from 3-20g, depending on age, weight, rate of digestion, tolerance., etc. A 2g dose would probably not be fatal in most cases, but it's way too close for comfort. Indeed, there are reported cases of adults requiring hospitalization due to heart misbehavior triggered by as little as 2g, according to Wikipedia (citations given).
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