Betel nut

Chewing betel nut can refresh you. It is a kind of plant chewing gum. When you eat it for the first time, you will feel dizzy, flushed, and chest tightness, and it feels like something is blocking your throat. There are many ways to chew betel nut, and people from different places chew betel nut in different ways. The way Hainanese people chew betel nut is similar to that of Taiwanese people. When they chew betel nut, they always add something else to chew together, which contains a lot of skills.

[Warning] Betel nut is a Class 1 carcinogen on the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer list of carcinogens. Chewing betel nut can increase the risk of oral cancer.

Effects of betel nut

【Effects】Kills insects, eliminates accumulation, reduces qi, promotes diuresis, and stops malaria.

[Adverse Reaction Mechanism] This product contains a variety of alkaloids. Overdose can easily cause poisoning. It can stimulate the digestive tract to cause vomiting, increase glandular secretion, and affect the central nervous system and urinary system.

[Adverse Reactions] Overdose may cause salivation, nausea, vomiting, upper abdominal pain, diarrhea, sweating, dizziness, pupil constriction, convulsions, slow heartbeat, difficulty breathing, asthma, drowsiness, convulsions, low blood pressure, proteinuria, pulmonary edema, heart paralysis, and death from respiratory failure.

Areca seeds can be used as medicine, which has the effects of killing insects, breaking up accumulation, lowering qi and promoting water flow. It is one of the precious "four major southern medicines" in my country. It is mainly used to treat insect accumulation, food accumulation, qi stagnation, dysentery, expelling roundworms, external treatment of glaucoma, and chewing it has an excitatory effect.

Betel nut contains a variety of nutrients and beneficial substances needed by the human body, such as fat, betel nut oil, alkaloids, catechins, choline and other ingredients. Betel nut has a unique function of preventing malaria, and is a medicinal fruit used by doctors of all dynasties to treat diseases. It is also known as "Malaria-Cleansing Pill". Because malaria is generally related to irregular diet and stagnation of qi, and betel nut can relieve qi, digest food and eliminate phlegm, it has attracted widespread attention for its medicinal properties.

Betel nut can be eaten and chewed with brine. People who chew it for the first time will feel red face and chest tightness, which is a normal phenomenon.

Betel nut and oral cancer

Betel nut itself is carcinogenic. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) published a monograph in August 2003, stating that "betel nut itself is a Class 1 carcinogen", which means that betel nut itself still has a carcinogenic risk even without additives.

Arecaline in betel nut is carcinogenic. The lime added is a carcinogen. The World Health Organization reviewed the literature related to chewing betel nut and cancer and concluded:

(1) Tobacco chewing combined with betel nut is a confirmed human carcinogen.

(2) Smoking and chewing betel nuts can easily lead to oral cancer and pharyngeal cancer.

For your health, please do not chew betel nuts. If you are a smoker, you must quit smoking. Because the combination of the two is more likely to cause oral cancer, laryngeal cancer, pharyngeal cancer and esophageal cancer. In addition, smoking, chewing betel nuts and drinking alcohol together have a more multiplied carcinogenic effect.

According to medical statistics, chewing betel nut is closely related to oral cancer. For example:

1. More than 80% of oral cancer patients in Taiwan have the habit of chewing betel nuts.

2. The incidence of oral cancer has been increasing year by year due to the increase in the number of people chewing betel nut in recent years.

3. People who chew betel nuts are 20 times more likely to develop oral cancer than the average person.

It can be seen that chewing betel nut has a great impact on our physical health.

Chewing betel nut not only causes teeth to become darker, more worn, looser, and gums to shrink, leading to periodontal disease, oral submucous fibrosis, and oral leukoplakia, but it can also lead to oral cancer. According to a survey, 88% of oral cancer patients have the habit of chewing betel nut.

The population of betel nut chewers is growing rapidly, and it is estimated that there are more than 2.6 million people in Taiwan. The average age of betel nut chewers is also gradually decreasing. The prevalence of betel nut chewing has also expanded from low socioeconomic status and working class population to white-collar and highly educated people. Betel nut is the favorite of the "red-lipped people" and the "green gold" in the eyes of farmers, but it is the biggest killer of the health and water resources of the Taiwanese people. According to statistics, Taiwan's more than 50,000 hectares of betel nut plantations (equivalent to 2 Taipei cities) not only cause about 4 billion tons of water loss and serious damage to forest land every year, but also the amount of money Taiwanese people spend on eating betel nut is as high as more than 90 billion yuan a year, which is equivalent to the cost of half a highway, which is quite amazing. What is even more terrible is its carcinogenic and cancer-promoting effects, which has made oral cancer among Taiwanese people jump into the top ten causes of cancer death. Therefore, how to promote betel nut prevention and control work and reduce people's habit of chewing betel nut has also become one of the work priorities of health units.

In addition to the possibility of oral diseases and oral cancer, excessive consumption can produce poisoning symptoms, ranging from excitement, dull eyes, trembling, unsteady walking, strange or rude behavior to acute mental illness, including auditory hallucinations, self-aggrandizement, forced fantasies, delirium, etc.

Excessive dose of arecoline can cause salivation, vomiting, diuresis, drowsiness and convulsions, and even chest tightness, sweating, dizziness and shock. It should not be swallowed. If it is caused by oral administration, gastric lavage can be performed with potassium permanganate solution and atropine can be injected.

The harm of betel nut

Secondly, spitting out betel nut juice and residues indiscriminately not only affects the appearance of the city, but also is unsightly. Some unscrupulous betel nut dealers often use all kinds of tricks to attract customers, especially the "betel nut beauties" who can be seen everywhere, which has a negative impact on the physical and mental health of children and the good customs of society.

Furthermore, since the profit from selling betel nuts is very high, some people plant them extensively on hillsides that are not suitable for growing betel nuts, causing soil erosion. When typhoons come, landslides are easily generated, causing loss of life and property.

Tooth damage

Frequent chewing actions exceed the normal load, causing tooth wear and tear and loose gums.

Physiological hazards: In addition to the possibility of oral diseases and oral cancer, excessive consumption can produce symptoms of poisoning, ranging from excitement, dull eyes, trembling, unsteady walking, strange or rude behavior to acute mental illness, including auditory hallucinations, self-aggrandizement, forced fantasies, delirium, etc.

Economic harm: Spitting betel nut juice anywhere will be banned and fined; eating betel nut is expensive, which increases the expenditure burden; medical expenses.

Social harm: After eating for a long time, your teeth will turn black and your mouth will turn red, which is quite unsightly.

Environmental pollution: Spitting betel nut juice everywhere not only pollutes the environment and is unsightly, but the bacteria in the spitted betel nut juice will be blown away by the wind and inhaled into the lungs of the public.

Soil and water conservation: Since the areca palm has shallow roots, planting it on a large scale will seriously damage soil and water conservation.