According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, betal quid is consumed with tobacco by 600 million people all over the world. It is widely used in the Asian, the Pacific region and in the Indian subcontinent. The product is a mixture of betal leaf, slaked lime, areca nut, tobacco, sweeteners, mustard, anise seeds, cloves, saffron, cardamom and turmeric. It is placed in the mouth between the cheek and the gum. A saliva is produced when the product is gently chewed, which is sucked in.
Owing to its stimulant and relaxation properties, it is commercially a very profitable product, known, colloquially as Ghutka. The consumption of this product leads to precancerous and cancerous conditions, along with pregnancy risks and addictions.
Harmful Effects of Betal Quid with Tobacco
Any abnormality in the functioning of a tissue is known as lesion. Two precancerous lesions in the mouth produced by ghutka are erythroplakia and leukoplakia. They are red and white patches formed in the mouth.
Another dreadful lesion is oral submucous fibrosis which stiffens the soft pink tissue forming the linings inside our mouth. It has a tendency to spread to the food pipe connecting our mouth to the stomach. Unfortunately it is an irreversible condition and destroys the ability of a person to open the mouth eventually.
These lesions, when ignored , turn cancerous and affect regions of the mouth like the lip, tongue, the pharynx and the esophagus. At a conference held in October 2009, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a World Health Organization sponsored group, experts formally concluded based on research evidences that betal quid with tobacco is a carcinogen or a cancer causing agent in the mouth, pharynx and the food pipe.
The severity of this dreadful disease increases with the number of betal quids chewed on the daily basis. The onset of the disease takes place at the exact spot of placement of the quid in the mouth.
The chances of premature delivery, delivery of child with lower birth weight and reduced birth length are some of the risks associated with ghutka consumption during pregnancy. It has been proved by the research studies carried out in Malaysia, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea.
The practice of chewing ghutka has an addictive side to it as well. People who intake to give up the habit, undergo severe withdrawal effect symptoms like delusions, hallucinations, digestive complaints, and irritation to name a few.
Though ghutka consumption is unknown in the United States, the influx of immigration from Asia in recent times, has brought the negative health effects of this product into the notice of the American health care professionals
It is the responsibility of these professionals to ensure that the situation remains intact. Enough insight should be gained by them on the negative effects of ghutka consumption along with its carcinogenic properties.
For instance, Cambodian immigrant women from San Diego, consume betal quid with tobacco and their cases of oral complaints can be extensively studied. This will in turn help the medical professionals in taking up awareness programs and warn the potential users of this dreadful product on the very onset.
Some of the top Harmful Effects
- Can cause oral precancerous lesions.
- Oral sub mucous fibrosis, which is precancerous lesion indicative of stiffness of oral mucosa, or rather the inability to open the mouth.
- Oral cancers of the lip, tongue, mouth and pharynx.
- Esophaegal
- Pregnancy risks. Pregnant woman who has ghutka can deliver a low weight baby.
- Nicotine addiction.
