Monday, December 09, 2002


those wacky genes

as coffee lovers, we've all met people who are unusually sensitive to caffeine, people who claim that coffee bothers them or makes them nervous. they often sometimes write me intense letters calling coffee a "poison."

well, fellow coffee lovers, now we can truly sympathize with these individuals. they are genetically deprived; prevented from loving coffee. it's not their fault -- they were in fact born that way.

it's completely true -- researchers from chicago have discovered that these people have wacky variations in four places in their genes, which causes coffee to affect them differently. what's interesting is that these genetic variations also appear to predispose these poor souls to other anxiety problems, such as panic attacks. that probably explains the intense emails.

i confess, i have been wrong: decaf does have its place, after all.

as the holidays approach, i'm going to remind everyone about the great work done by that fine charity, coffeekids. a somber story brought this to mind: after reading earlier this fall that nicaraguan coffee workers were starving due to the current world-price depression in the coffee market (the so-called coffee crisis), the problem of starvation has spread to guatemala, where we now have reliable documentation that children are beginning to die there as well.

please find a little extra in your holiday budget to direct to coffee kids. they have active projects in guatemala and can actually help.

posted by fortune | 4:45 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments