IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i18p6690-d413340.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Betel Quid Health Risks of Insulin Resistance Diseases in Poor Young South Asian Native and Immigrant Populations

Author

Listed:
  • Suzanne M. de la Monte

    (Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Providence VA Medical Center, Providence, RI 02808, USA
    Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, Providence, RI 02808, USA
    Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, RI 02808, USA
    Departments of Medicine, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI 02808, USA)

  • Natalia Moriel

    (Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA)

  • Amy Lin

    (Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA)

  • Nada Abdullah Tanoukhy

    (Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA)

  • Camille Homans

    (Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA)

  • Gina Gallucci

    (Departments of Medicine, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI 02808, USA)

  • Ming Tong

    (Departments of Medicine, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI 02808, USA)

  • Ayumi Saito

    (Department of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA)

Abstract

Betel quid, traditionally prepared with areca nut, betel leaf, and slaked lime, has been consumed for thousands of years, mainly in the form of chewing. Originally used for cultural, medicinal, and ceremonial purposes mainly in South Asian countries, its use has recently spread across the globe due to its psychoactive, euphoric, and aphrodisiac properties. Now it is widely used as a social lubricant and source of financial profit. Unfortunately, the profit motive has led to high rates of habitual consumption with eventual conversion to addiction among young girls and boys. Moreover, the worrisome practice of including tobacco in quid preparations has grown, particularly among pregnant women. Major health concerns include increased rates of malignancy, oral pathology, and cardiovascular, hepatic, fertility, metabolic, and neuropsychiatric disorders. Metabolic disorders and insulin resistance disease states such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome contribute to cognitive decline and neurodegeneration. Mechanistically, the constituents of areca nut/betel quid are metabolized to N-nitroso compounds, i.e., nitrosamines, which are carcinogenic at high doses and cause insulin resistance following chronic low-level exposures. From an epidemiological perspective, the rising tide of insulin resistance diseases including obesity, diabetes, and dementias that now disproportionately burden poor countries has been propagated by rapid commercialization and enhanced access to betel quid. Public health measures are needed to impose socially and ethically responsible barriers to yet another cause of global health disparity.

Suggested Citation

  • Suzanne M. de la Monte & Natalia Moriel & Amy Lin & Nada Abdullah Tanoukhy & Camille Homans & Gina Gallucci & Ming Tong & Ayumi Saito, 2020. "Betel Quid Health Risks of Insulin Resistance Diseases in Poor Young South Asian Native and Immigrant Populations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-21, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:18:p:6690-:d:413340
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6690/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6690/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tomohide Yamada & Kazuo Hara & Takashi Kadowaki, 2013. "Chewing Betel Quid and the Risk of Metabolic Disease, Cardiovascular Disease, and All-Cause Mortality: A Meta-Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-10, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nansi López-Valverde & Antonio López-Valverde, 2021. "Comment on de la Monte et al. Betel Quid Health Risks of Insulin Resistance Diseases in Poor Young South Asian Native and Immigrant Populations. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17 , 6690," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-2, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yu-Chung Tsao & Wen-Cheng Li & Wei-Chung Yeh & Steve Wen-Neng Ueng & Sherry Yueh-Hsia Chiu & Jau-Yuan Chen, 2020. "The Association between Metabolic Syndrome and Related Factors among the Community-Dwelling Indigenous Population in Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Thung-Lip Lee & Chin-Feng Hsuan & Cheng-Ching Wu & Wei-Chin Hung & I-Ting Tsai & Ching-Ting Wei & Teng-Hung Yu & I-Cheng Lu & Fu-Mei Chung & Yau-Jiunn Lee & Yung-Chuan Lu, 2021. "Association between Triglyceride Glucose Index and Corrected QT Prolongation in Chinese Male Steelworkers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-14, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:18:p:6690-:d:413340. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.