Betel nuts

Nuts have many uses, both industrial and domestic. For instance, the ivory nut, or tagua, is a source material for the manufacture of buttons and turnery articles. The kola nut supplies ingredients for popular cola beverages in the United States (see Carbonated beverages). StTychnos nux-vomica provides the important medicine and poison, strychnine. The areca or betel nut is chewed by the Indian and Malayan people as a narcotic a slice of the nut is placed in a leaf of the pepper plant Piper betle) together with a pinch of lime the mixture is an acrid, astringent narcotic that dyes the mouth red, blackens and destroys the teeth. The areca nut contains, among other alkaloids, arecoline, an active anthelminthic widely used in veterinary practice for the treatment of tapeworm infections. 

The areca or betel nut palm (Areca catechu) is indigenous to the Sunda Islands, but is widely cultivated in Far Eastern tropical countries, where... 

Chavicol, C<,H ( 0, is an unsaturated phenol, found in oils of betel nut and bay leaves. It is a colourless, highly odorous liquid, having the following characters —... 

Betel-nuss, /. betel nut. -pfeffer, m. betel pepper, betel. 

Johnston, G. A. R., Krogsgaard-Larsen, P., and Stephanson, A. L. (1975) Betel nut constituents as inhibitors of gamma-aminobutyric acid uptake. Nature. 258,627-628. 

The areca nut is sometimes erroneously referred to as the betel nut (Trivedy et al. 1999). Betel refers to a combined preparation of the areca nut (Areca catechu) and lime (calcium hydroxide), rolled into the leaf of the betel pepper (Piper betle) (Morton 1998). 

Chiang WT, Yang CC, Deng JF, Bullard M. (1998). Cardiac arrhythmia and betel nut chewing—is there a causal effect Vet Hum Toxicol. 40(5) 287-89. 

Deahl M. (1989). Betel nut-induced extrapyramidal syndrome an unusual drug interaction. Mov Disord. 4(4) 330-32. 

Hung DZ, Deng JF. (1998). Acute myocardial infarction temporally related to betel nut chewing. Veterinary Hum Toxicol. 40(1) 25-28. 

Taylor RF, al-Jarad N, John LM, Conroy DM, Barnes NC. (1992). Betel-nut chewing and asthma. Lancet 339(8802) 1134-36. 

Fourtillan JB, Brisson AM, Girault J, Ingrand I, Decourt JP, Drieu K, Jouenne P, Biber A. (1995). [Pharmacokinetic properties of bilobalide and ginkgolides A and B in healthy subjects after intravenous and oral administration of Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb 761)]. Therapie. 50(2) 137-44. Frewer U. (1990). The effect of betel nut on human performance. PNG MedJ. 33(2) 143-5. 

Food pigments. Well-described are footh discolorations associated with the consumption of coffee, fea, wine, and betel nuts. This discoloration by food and beverages has been mimicked in vitro with caries lesions (Kidd et al., 1990) and sound teeth (Chan et al., 1981). 

The choline ester, carbachol, activates M-cholinoceptors, but is not hydrolyzed by AChE. Carbachol can thus be effectively employed for local application to the eye (glaucoma) and systemic administration (bowel atonia, bladder ato-nia). The alkaloids, pilocarpine (from Pilocarpus jaborandi) and arecoline (from Areca catechu betel nut) also act as direct parasympathomimetics. As tertiary amines, they moreover exert central effects. The central effect of muscarinelike substances consists of an enlivening, mild stimulation that is probably the effect desired in betel chewing, a widespread habit in South Asia. Of this group, only pilocarpine enjoys therapeutic use, which is limited to local application to the eye in glaucoma... 

Other cholinergic agonists have no therapeutic use. Muscarine (4.3) is an alkaloid of the mushroom Anumita muscaria muscarone (4.9) is its semisynthetic analog. Pilocarpine (2.2) is found in the leaves of a shrub and can be used to increase salivation or sweating. Arecoline (4.10) is also an alkaloid, and occurs in the betel nut that is used as a mild euphoriant in India and Southeast Asia. Finally, oxotremorine (4.11) is a synthetic experimental agent that produces tremors and is helpful in the study of antiparkinsonian drugs. 

It is obtained from the betel nut Areca catechu and has got muscarinic and weak nicotinic actions. It has no therapeutic value except for chewing to promote salivary secretion and in pan masala etc. 

The nut of the palm Areca catechu contains a mildly stimulatory alkaloid and in some Asian countries the chewing of pieces of the nut is enjoyed because of the mild euphoric state it induces. Restrictions in the use of betel nut remain rather few despite some... 

Betel nut Areca catechu Arecoline Muscarinic Acetylchohne... 

Areca catechu L. A. hortonsis Lour. Bing Lang (Betel nut palm) (nut) Arecholine, arecholidine, guvacoline, guvacine.33 Treat taeniasis. 

Betel nut, the source of arecoline, is dried, smoked or salted in preparation for chewing by the natives of southern Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines and eastern Africa. The pieces are rolled in a betel leaf vine which has been smeared with quicklime. Chewing this concoction makes the saliva red. The musical South Pacific has Bloody Mary as one of its main characters. Her name denoted the color of her tongue and teeth. 

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