GAINESVILLE, Fla. - For hundreds of millions of people around the world, chewing betel nut produces a cheap, quick high but also raises the risk of addiction and oral cancer. Now, new findings by a University of Florida Health researcher reveal how the nut’s psychoactive chemical works in the brain and suggest that an addiction treatment may already exist.
The betel nut, a seed of the areca palm, is grown and used throughout India, parts of China and much of Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and most of the Pacific islands. Chewing the betel quid - a mixture of areca nut, spices and slaked lime wrapped in betel vine leaves - has been a cultural tradition in those regions for centuries. In small doses, it creates a sense of euphoria and alertness. Prolonged use can create addiction and the World Health Organization classifies the betel nut as a carcinogen.
Findings published today (Oct. 21) in the journal PLOS One show that the nut’s active ingredient, arecoline, acts on the same receptor proteins in the brain as nicotine. This raises the possibility that prescription drugs now used to break nicotine dependence could also be effective against betel nut addiction, said Roger L. Papke, Ph.D., a professor in the UF College of Medicine department of pharmacology and therapeutics.
“Without knowing why people become dependent, there was no way to help them get over the dependence. This provides a new avenue toward treating the addiction,” Papke said.
The implications of learning more about the nature of betel nut addiction are vast: One estimate puts the number of regular users at 200 million to 600 million, and betel nut is widely regarded as the world’s fourth most-used stimulant after caffeine, alcohol and tobacco.
13 сен 2024
