Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, including tech sector

Re:Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, i... by philipkglass on Monday February 26, 2018 @06:06PM (#16469814)

There is some research to say that the mate derived caffeine is largely an isomer of caffeine, in that the molecule is shaped differently. This is then used to explain why mate is more potent to users without a habituation to coffee derived caffeine. However, the research is still ongoing and the isomer theory is not yet proved, AFAIK.

This sounds very dubious. Caffeine has only one stereoisomer. And if you mean a structural isomer, then it's not actually caffeine any more.

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Re:Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, i... by bickford on Monday February 26, 2018 @11:55PM (#16471164)

I am not up to date on the research. A few years ago the stimulant in mate was more broadly classified as a xanthine, not specifically caffeine.

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Re:Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, i... by Balgair on Monday February 26, 2018 @07:04PM (#16470105)

Like I said, research is ongoing/needed. Personally, I think it's just a placebo effect, but I'm not in that area of research.

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Re:Ask HN: I'm writing a book about white-collar drug use, i... by jiggunjer on Tuesday February 27, 2018 @02:50AM (#16471754)

One? I wasn't aware of any. And GP did say isomer, not stereoisomer.

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