Chewing Their Way to Misery!

“Areca nut has been used since antiquity and has assumed major social, cultural and even religious roles,” says a report in Oral Health. “Users often consider it harmless and report a sense of well-being, euphoria, [and] a warm sensation of the body . . . Evidence has shown, however, that it is far from harmless.” How so?

Drug-prevention authorities believe that one of the alkaloids in betel nut can be habit forming. Indeed, some users chew up to 50 betel nuts a day! Before long, teeth become stained, and gum disease may follow. Habitual users, according to Oral Health, may develop “chewers mucosa”​—a brownish-red staining and often wrinkling of the mucous membrane lining the mouth. They may also develop a “chronic, progressive, scarring . . . of the oral mucosa,” a condition called oral submucous fibrosis.

Betel-nut chewing is also linked to a form of mouth cancer called oral squamous cell carcinoma, which can also occur at the back of the throat. The high incidence of oral cancer among adults in Southeast Asia seems to bear this out. In the Taiwan area, approximately 85 percent of oral cancer cases occur in betel-nut chewers. Moreover, “Taiwan’s rate of oral cancer​—one of the island’s top 10 causes of death—​has nearly quadrupled in the past 40 years,” says The China Post.

The situation is much the same elsewhere. The Papua New Guinea Post-Courier states: “Papua New Guinea’s favourite chew, the betelnut, is killing at least 2,000 people a year and is responsible for many health problems, according to the PNG Medical Society.” “The effects of chronic betel usage,” according to one doctor and medical writer, “are at least as diverse as those of smoking” and include cardiovascular disease.

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Chronic betel-nut chewing may lead to serious medical conditions

Stained teeth and gum disease

Oral submucous fibrosis

Oral squamous cell carcinoma