Areca quid chewing related oral mucosal lesions are potential hazard to a large population worldwide. Commercially freeze dried products such as pan masala, guthka and mawa have high concentration of areca nut per chew and appear to cause OSMF more rapidly than by self prepared conventional betel quid that contain smaller amounts of areca nut. The basic constituent of areca nut is either raw or...

BACKGROUND To assess and compare the salivary flow rate (SFR) and salivary pH among areca nut chewers, oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) patients and apparently healthy individuals. METHODS A comparative study was conducted to assess and compare the SFR and pH among 135 outpatients (45 areca nut chewers + 45 OSMF + 45 control) at The Oxford Dental College and Research Hospital, Bangalore, India....

Oral cancer is the 6th most frequent cancer in Taiwan. The habit of areca nut chewing is the main etiological factor of oral cancer. To shed light on molecular basis of areca nut associated oral carcinogenesis, we established two oral cell sublines chronically treated with areca nut extract (ANE) at IC70 dose for 2 months. Affymatrix microarray was used in transcriptome profiling between parent...

A variety of betel/areca nut/tobacco habits have been reviewed and categorized because of their possible causal association with oral cancer and various oral precancerous lesions and conditions, and on account of their widespread occurrence in different parts of the world. At a recent workshop in Kuala Lumpur it was recommended that "quid" be defined as "a substance, or mixture of substances, p...

BACKGROUND Areca nut chewing has been reported to be associated with obesity, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, and cardiovascular mortality in previous studies. The aim of this study was to examine whether chewing areca nut increases the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) in Taiwanese men. METHODS This study is a hospital-based case-control study. The case patients were male patients diag...

BACKGROUND As adolescent tobacco use has been found to be a major predictor of future use, preventive efforts need to be focused on this section of population. OBJECTIVES To assess the role of knowledge regarding tobacco, risk-taking attitude, peers, and other influencers on tobacco and areca nut use, amongst adolescents. SETTINGS AND DESIGN A school-based cross-sectional study covering two...

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Areca catechu, commonly known as betel nut, is very famous for its medicinal use in multiple disorders. It is also popular as a remedy against inflammatory disorders in the Unani (Greco-Arab) system of medicine. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY This study was aimed at investigating the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of the crude extract of Areca catechu and it...

Natural Fibers composites are considered to have potential use as reinforcing material in polymer matrix composites because of their good strength, stiffness, low cost, environmental friendly and biodegradable. In present study, mechanical properties for natural fiber composites were evaluated. Here, areca fiber is used as new natural fiber reinforcement and epoxy resin as matrix. The extracted...

BACKGROUND The active ingredients and thus pharmacological efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) at different degrees of parching process vary greatly. OBJECTIVE Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) was used to develop a new method for rapid online analysis of TCM parching process, using two kinds of chemical indicators (5-(hydroxymethyl) furfural [5-HMF] content and 420 nm absorbance) a...

Around 200-600 million Asians chew areca (also called betel), which contains a mixture of areca nut and other ingredients. Epidemiological evidences indicated that areca use is tightly linked to oral carcinogenesis. This study investigated the effects of ripe areca nut extract (ANE) on cultured normal human oral keratinocyte (NHOK). Acute subtoxic ANE treatment inhibited DNA synthesis and induc...