Recently, Zhejiang Yiwu asked merchants to remove betel nut food from their shelves, causing concern. On the afternoon of the 20th, many areca growers in Haikou and Ledong, Hainan, said that the recent purchase price had fluctuated due to the area off the-shelf storm, and the purchase price had dropped by 5 yuan per kilogram.
As early as 2020, the Categorized Catalogue of Food Production License canceled the category of edible areca, which means that areca manufacturers cannot obtain the production license from the regulatory authorities. In an interview with the relevant news media, the staff of the Zhejiang Provincial Market Supervision Administration said that the Categorized Catalogue of Food Production License had canceled the category of edible areca, and the production license and supervision of areca as a food lacked a basis. Zhejiang Province issued a relevant notice from the beginning of September this year, forbidding areca nuts to be sold as food. At the same time, the market supervision and administration bureaus of some cities and counties in Guizhou, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and other places successively sold red lights to areca. However, Hainan, Yunnan, and other major planting provinces in China are still strong!
What is betel nut? What effect does it have on us?
Areca catechu contains a variety of nutrients and beneficial substances needed by the human body, as well as a variety of pharmacologically active ingredients, mainly including alkaloids, phenolic compounds, fatty oils, various amino acids, and various minerals. Areca nut is the main ingredient of areca nut chew block and is the fourth most widely used hobby in the world, second only to tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine. The specific functions and effects of areca nut are as follows:
1. Insecticidal. Areca nut can repel and kill intestinal parasites such as tapeworm, Ascaris lumbricoides, Rao worm, hookworm, and ginger worm, and expel worms through purgation;
2. It can eliminate the accumulation, release the bitterness of areca nut, enter the gastrointestinal channel, and be good at the qi of the gastrointestinal tract. It can eliminate the accumulation and lead to stagnation and has the function of relieving diarrhea and defecation. It can be used to treat the symptoms of food accumulation, qi stagnation, abdominal distension, constipation, and various damp-heat diarrhea;
3. To promote qi and promote water circulation, betel nut can both promote qi and promote water circulation. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that qi circulation can help water transportation. Therefore, betel nut can often be used to treat symptoms such as edema, poor urination, and defecation, cold and wet feet, swelling, and pain;
4. It can cure malaria and is often used in combination with Changshan and Cargo.
Areca nut has high nutritional value, but it also has some side effects on the human body. If you chew areca for a long time, it may cause oral submucous fibrosis, which is the direct cause of oral cancer. According to medical statistics, chewing areca nut is closely related to oral cancer. The incidence rate of oral cancer, due to the increasing population chewing areca in recent years, has a gradual upward trend, people who chew areca have a 20 times higher risk of oral cancer than the general population.
What is the harm to eating Areca? Is chewing betelnut a drug?
Areca is a kind of hard food. If you eat it once in a while, it will do little harm to your health. And this product can play a role in promoting water, and also has the effect of aiding digestion and eliminating accumulated food, which is conducive to relieving constipation in the body. But if you eat it for a long time, it will wear the teeth, make the teeth loose and black, and also damage the oral mucosa. In addition, the substances in betel nut can also produce nitrite with saliva, but betel nut is not a drug (within the scope of Chinese law, but belongs to sensitive substances, such as tobacco and theophylline), but it can be addictive if eaten frequently, and chewing betel nut frequently will increase the risk of oral cavity cancer. Moreover, this product will not only cause tooth damage but also a few people will suffer from dental calculus disease. If chewing for a long time, it will affect the temporomandibular joint, even lead to digestive system disorder, and cause inflammation of gastric mucosa.
With stricter supervision, how should the ten billion betel nut industry develop in a standardized way?
As early as 2003, the World Health Organization included areca nut in the list of Category 1 carcinogens. And because areca contains arecoline, ephedrine, and other substances, eating areca can make people excited, and long-term consumption is prone to dependence. It has been identified as a drug in Türkiye, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Australia, and other countries, and has been banned from sale in many European and American countries.
In recent years, China has become increasingly strict in the management of betel nuts by formulating control policies. This should be in line with the trend. It should be timely legislated to regulate betel nut. Betel nut can be regarded as a drug and completely prohibited; It can also be regarded as tobacco, allowing some people to harm themselves on the premise of fully informing the risks; Or treat it as Baijiu and publicize that excessive drinking is harmful to health, etc.
This industry needs to have a clear standard to guide relevant enterprises in how to do it, instead of being kidnapped by short-term economic interests and the so-called sense of justice, it should fully show its true role to all mankind and serve the people for a long time.
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