You can’t possibly have missed these green little (disgusting) seeds. The betel nut here is mixed with lime, wrapped in betel leaves and chewed by Taiwan’s indigenous peoples for centuries as a mild stimulant.
I finally found the time to ask my friend about. What she mentioned surely refrain myself from trying it. Talking about the effects, she said that the addition of lime helps to extract the vital essence of the plants into the saliva (and from there, of course, through the mucous membranes of the mouth and straight into the bloodstream). The catalytic lime is either powder (calcium oxide) or paste (calcium hydroxide). In either case, it is typically made from kiln-baked seashells. How these three substances were ever married together as one drug is a question she couldn’t answer.
These days it is associated with oral cancer, devastating mudslides and its roadside marketers, the “betel nut beauties”. This human carcinogen leads to oral cancer (liver, mouth, esophagus, stomach, prostate, cervix, and lung), causes the teeth and gums to be stained red, asthma exacerbation, hypotension, diabetes, tachycardia, … and some other medical term I could not get.
My friend even showed me toothpastes that once produced containing betel extracts, as betel nut is believed to reduce the incidence of cavities, however the increase in mouth ulcers and the rotting of gums (leading to total removal of teeth) caused by betel chewing outweigh any positive effects.
I asked myself “Why do they use it then?” Not much to argue about… I do not know why I smoke and drink!
My friend told me there might be some possible beneficial effect for sufferers of anaemia during pregnancy. However, it counsels against betel nut chewing due a possible risk of spontaneous abortions. It also indicates “poor-quality studies” showing a possible beneficial effect on schizophrenia and for stroke recovery
Nevertheless, the seed remains Taiwan’s second biggest crop after rice, and thousands of people make their livelihoods from it. Moreover, it is getting obvious that habit of betel nut chewing is entering younger age groups and spreading across different professions.
Have u ever met foreigners eating betel nuts on a regular basis? Can we get used to it? I tried and spit it all!
