Gautam Majumdar wrote in message .uk...
On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 05:26:10 +0100, Christopher Green wrote:

3. Betal Leaf [Paan]

Chewing betel (paan, paan masala) is a significant cause of cancer in
Asian countries where this is a practice. Making a steady diet of any
significant amount of it would be unwise at best.

A few of the items in your list are not entirely safe, but only
dangerous in large quantity or long-term use. Betel (paan) is the most
dangerous, but not very. Some of these are definitely inappropriate for
pregnant women.


Betel (Paan) leaf is not particularly carcinogenic - it is the other
things those are added to make it a chewable item. Those include
quicklime, betel nuts (supari), various colouring agents, sugars & finally
tobacco leaf. This last one is probably the most carcinogenic as the
incidence of oral cancer is similar for chewing paan with one of the
tobacco preparations and the processed tobacco (jarda, docta, khaini,
gundi, etc) by itself.

You're right, betel preparations containing tobacco are far more
carcinogenic, but there is some substantiation of betel alone being
carcinogenic. The reports I've seen concentrate on the nuts rather
than the leaves.

--
Chris Green