Naturally decaffeinated tea, coffee said possible

By Patricia Reaney

LONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Naturally decaffeinated coffee and tea may soon be on the menu, according to Japanese and Scottish scientists.  In a report published in the science journal Nature on Wednesday, researchers from Glasgow University in Scotland and Ochanomizu and Tsukuba Universities in Japan said they have discovered and cloned a gene necessary for tea and coffee plants to produce caffeine.  The finding could enable scientists to produce the drinks with all the taste and aroma but none of the side effects of caffeine.  "We cloned a gene that encodes an enzyme that is involved in caffeine biosynthesis," Alan Crozier, a plant biochemist, told Reuters.  "This opens up the possibility of making transgenic genetically modified tea or coffee with this gene inserted into it. So the transgenic plants do not synthesize caffeine. It's naturally decaffeinated," he added.   If commercial funding is available and if concerns about GM foods decrease, particularly in Britain, naturally decaffeinated tea and coffee could be on sale in the next five to 10 years. 

BLOCKING CAFFEINE PRODUCTION 

Crozier and his colleagues have not brewed any genetically modified beverages yet, but they said the products should not have any side effects because all they are doing is blocking caffeine production and modifying only one enzyme.  "The (current) decaffeination process, which is solvent extraction, removes the caffeine but also many of the compounds that are responsible for flavor and aroma," Crozier explained.  "You would have all the flavor components but none of the caffeine (in the GM beverages)," he added.

 In some people caffeine, which is a stimulant, can cause palpitations, anxiety, raised blood pressure, tremors and insomnia.

The scientists said the health benefits of tea, which includes compounds such as catechins and polyphenols that protect against heart disease, may also be increased if the effects of caffeine are removed.