While it has long been established that consumption of betel nut can lead to oral cancer, a recent study suggests that it might also double the risk of metabolic syndrome in the children of users, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday.
HPA Cancer Prevention Section Director Wu Chien-yuan (吳建遠) said that research conducted by National Taiwan University College of Public Health professor Tony Chen (陳秀熙) found that male betel nut users face a significantly higher risk of developing oral cancer and metabolic syndrome than non-users.
“However, [the impact on health] does not just stop there. The research also discovered that the children of betel nut chewers are twice as more likely to suffer from metabolic syndrome than those born to parents who have never consumed the substance,” Wu said.
“They are also more prone to abdominal obesity, hypertension and hyperglycemia,” he added.
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that raise sufferers’ risk of heart disease and other health problems, Wu said, including a six-time higher risk of diabetes, a four-time higher likelihood of developing high blood pressure and a twofold greater probability of experiencing a heart attack or stroke.
Wu said the International Agency for Research on Cancer has categorized betel nut as a Class 1 carcinogen, and research has shown that people who chew 10 betel nuts per day for more than 10 years continue to be at an increased risk of oral cancer even a decade after quitting.
“More alarming is that according to statistics, nine out of 10 oral cancer patients are long-term betel nut users,” he said.
Wu urged smokers and betel nut chewers aged 30 years and older to take advantage of a free screening test for oral cancer offered biennially by the HPA, which on average helps to detect nearly 5,000 precancerous oral lesions or cancer cells per year.
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