The benefits and harms of betel nut

Even if you have never eaten betel nut, I believe many people have heard of it. Betel nut is very famous in the southern region, especially in Taiwan, and many people call it natural chewing gum. However, you cannot eat too much betel nut. Eating too much can easily lead to oral cancer, which is the disadvantage of betel nut. As a medicine, betel nut plays an important role in many aspects. Let’s take a look at the benefits and harms of betel nut.

Benefits of eating betel nut

Betel nut has a unique function of preventing miasma and is a medicinal fruit used by doctors of all dynasties to treat diseases. It is also known as "miasma-washing pill". Because malaria is generally related to irregular diet and stagnation of qi, and betel nut can relieve qi, help digestion and eliminate phlegm, it has attracted widespread attention for its medicinal properties.

Betel nut has insecticidal properties and is used to treat red worm disease, ascariasis, ginger worm disease, and abdominal pain caused by worm accumulation.

Betel nut is similar to eating chili peppers. It stimulates the whole body to make it hot. It also has the effect of dispelling cold and keeping warm in cold weather. Not only that, betel nut also has the effect of treating glaucoma, high blood pressure, etc.

Betel nut itself is a carcinogen. Eating betel nut while smoking will also produce a carcinogen, which can cause oral cancer, gastric cancer, pharyngeal cancer and many other diseases. Excessive chewing of betel nut can cause a variety of adverse reactions such as dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and difficulty breathing.

Since betel nut fibers are quite coarse and hard, they can injure the gums or clog the gaps between teeth, causing compression and inflammation of the interdental papillae. Chewing hard can also damage the periodontal membrane, causing inflammation, swelling and pain around the tooth roots. On the other hand, due to the accumulation of lime and betel nut residues, the calculus becomes thicker and thicker, causing gum damage, swelling, suppuration, exposed tooth roots, etc., resulting in periodontal disease, and eventually the teeth fall out one by one or have to be extracted.

Betel nut has a unique taste

Betel nut is a kind of food that grows in the tropics. It has a unique taste and many people like to eat it. However, eating too much betel nut has a great impact on the body because of the special substances contained in betel nut. Long-term use can cause addiction. From a comprehensive perspective, eating betel nut has both advantages and disadvantages. It can remove phlegm and relieve cough, but it may also cause adverse symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting, etc.