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Betel leaf, buyo
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by: Rajendra Toprani and Daxesh Patel
In India, Betel leaf (BL) plays an important role since ancient culture. Its use in India dates back to 400 BC. As per ancient books of Ayurveda, Charaka, Sushruta Samhitas, and Kashyapa Bhojanakalpa, the practice of chewing BL after meals became common between 75 AD and 300 AD. Toward the 13th century, European traveler Marco Polo recorded betel chewing among kings and nobles in India.
Importance of BL has been described in ancient books of Ayurveda. Use of BL was known for centuries for its curative properties. In Chinese folk medicine betel leaves are used for the treatment of various disorders and claimed to have detoxification, antioxidation, and antimutation properties. There are number of research experiments on BL, where the leaf extract, fractions, and purified compounds are found to play a role in oral hygiene, and to have various properties including anti-diabetic, cardiovascular, anti-inflammatory/immunomodulatory, anti-ulcer, hepato-protective, anti-infective, etc., Patents were also awarded for some of the biological activities like anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and immunomodulatory associated with the leaf extracts and purified compounds.
There is archaeological evidence that the betel leaves have been chewed along with the areca nut since very ancient times. It is not known when these two different stimulant substances were first put together. Betel leaves are used as a stimulant, an antiseptic, and a breath-freshener, whereas areca nut was considered as aphrodisiac.
Chewing habits of people have changed over time. The betel leaves are chewed together in a wrapped package along with areca nut and mineral slaked lime. Catechu (kattha) and other flavoring substances and spices were also added subsequently. For many decades, tobacco has also been added to the BL package. The practice of chewing BL has been decreasing progressively and now the Quid comprising of tobacco, areca nut, and slaked lime (gutkha) is generally in practice.
Although use of BL was wide spread in ancient times, but there has not been strong evidence of incidence of oral cancer in ancient times.
Various experiments evaluating effects of BL suggested no harmful effect when consumed alone. Bhide et al. demonstrated effect of aqueous BL extract where administration of areca nut extracts in Swiss and C17 mice developed different types of cancer while control group and mice fed with aqueous BL extract did not develop any tumors. Shirname et al. conducted experiments in which Swiss mice were given aqueous extracts of Betel Quid and its components by gavage. Mice fed with BL extracts alone had comparable tumor rates with those of controls. Rao et al. compared tumor development in Syrian golden hamsters which received topical applications of aqueous extracts of tobacco, areca nut, or BL. Animal treated with tobacco and areca nut had tumor development rate of 15 and 10%, respectively, whereas untreated animals, treated with BL alone, and treated with vehicle did not develop any tumors.
BL extract even showed beneficial effect in terms of reduced tumor growth rate in animal tumor models. Rao et al. demonstrated that the extract of betel leaves inhibited emergence of DMBA-induced mammary carcinogenesis in rats. However, it did not inhibit the growth in already induced mammary tumors. Chemopreventive effect of betel leaves was demonstrated by Bhide et al. where administration of BL extract lowered the benzo pyrene induced fore-stomach papillomas in Swiss mice. Maximal inhibition of papilloma development was observed in mice receiving hydroxychavicol-a constituent of BL extract.
Thus, there is abundant evidence showing beneficial effects of BL alone in experimental animals, but its validation in humans is still lacking. There is no head to head comparison of incidence of oral cancer in Quid chewers with or without BL.
Shetty et al. in this issue of SAJC have nicely demonstrated the advantage of BL in maintaining salivary ascorbic acid levels in humans. Salivary ascorbic acid may help prevent carcinogenesis in the oral cavity, but the effects of quid/tobacco at other sites of body may still continue. At the same time, there is no long term follow up of study patients which could have given an insight into the development of oral cancer in Betel Quid v/s Quid chewers alone. Based on this study, we cannot recommend chewing of Quid even with BL as there is no long term follow up and more studies including epidemiological and basic science studies are warranted to clearly establish the role of BL in preventing carcinogenesis.
News about Betel leaf, buyo
12 reasons you should chew paan or betel leaves
- By Poorva Chavan
Chewing paan or betel leaves , many a times is frowned upon. But here are a few reasons one should regularly consume betel leaves.
Ideally, a paan is made by wrapping areca nut, tobacco and slaked lime in betel leaf. Since tobacco and areca nuts are known to cause cancer, chewing paan with them should be avoided. The betel leaf has many medicinal benefits and has been extensively used in Ayurveda.
- Health benefits
- Improves digestion: Chewing betel leaves takes a lot of effort and ‘works’ your salivary gland. It stimulates the release of saliva which is the first step of digestion, as various enzymes in it break down food, making it easy to digest. Natural substances like ginger, figs, fennel etc. are also known to improve digestion.
- Prevents carcinogenesis in the oral cavity: Chewing betel leaves has also shown to prevent oral cancer by maintaining the levels of ascorbic acid in the saliva1 .Ascorbic acid is an excellent antioxidant, which helps reduce the free radicals in the body, thus preventing cancer.
- Helps maintain good oral hygiene: Betel leaves have various compounds which have bactericidal effects that help in destroying bad breath causing bacteria. Also, various spices like cloves, fennel, cardamom. etc. when wrapped in betel nut to make paan, make an excellent mouth-freshener. Spices like cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg etc. are also known to solve many oral problems.
- Is an aphrodisiac: Betel leaf is known to have aphrodisiac properties and chewing paan right before having sex makes the process more enjoyable. It is a common practice to offer masala paan to newlyweds.
- Treats gastric ulcers: Extracts of betel leaves are known to have gastroprotective activity and help in preventing gastric ulcers.2
- Treatment of warts: Betel leaves are a major component in various Ayurvedic medicines used in treating warts. These medicines are known to not leave any scarring and remove the wart completely without recurrence.3
- Cures boils: They are widely used in Ayurveda for treating boils. Betel leaves are warmed till slightly softer and coated with a castor oil and placed over the boil. This treatment is known to rupture the boil and drain it.
- Treats diabetes: Extracts of betel leaves are known to control blood sugar levels and have an effective anti-diabetic property.4
- Treats cough: Betel leaf extract mixed with honey is known to relieve cough and helps removing phlegm from the chest.
- Relieves headache: Betel leaf is also known to have analgesic properties and hence applying it over the affected area is known to effectively reduce headache.
- Heals wounds: Juice of betel leaves, when applied over a wound and bandaged with betel leaves is known to heal within two days.
- Cures constipation: Stalk of betel leaves dipped in castor oil, when introduced in the rectum, effectively relieves constipation. Along with betel leaves, natural remedies like flaxseeds, triphala, lemon, etc. are also known to cure constipation.