Betel Nut - Do I have to chew it?

[nekointheclouds]

Hey guys,

On my last trip to my local asian market, I found a bag of sliced betel nut. It was supper cheap, and I remembered reading about it, so I got the bag. I read about how it is used, and how you need to use lime to make it active, so I got the kind of lime recommended, mixed some with a few slices of slightly rehydrated betel nut and put it in my cheek to chew.

Wow. This. is. terrible.

I couldnt stand to leave it in my mouth for more then a few minutes. The taste is overwhelmingly bitter and nasty. I understand why its traditionally made with lots of flavoring. I have tried chewing it a few times, and cannot stand to keep it in my mouth.

So my question is this: Could I make a strong tea with the betel nut slices and lime? And would drinking it have the same effects as sucking of the nut? Or does it have to get into your bloodstream through the saliva?

I'm gonna go ahead and try to make a tea, and use my mortar to mash the betel nut with lime and warm water to make it strong. But if anyone knows anything about how effective the betel nuts active ingredient is when drank would be good to know. Thanks!

 

[Mr. Tambourine Man]

I've used betel nut irregularly as a stimulant for studying for about a year or so. In answer to you question: no, you do not have to chew it to derive effects. Yes, its horribly astringent and bitter, and probably useless unless prepared by someone experienced with native use. Also, chewing can stain your teeth and lead to mouth and throat cancers.

However, you can consume ground betel nut, by grinding it up and either putting it in gel caps or stirring it into a small amount of water. However, this can cause nausea for some (I myself have never had this problem, just a warning). A tea also works, although it is less effective and more unpleasant to consume IMO.

The effects of oral betel should last anywhere from 2-4 hours, depending on how finely its ground (the more coarsely ground, the longer the duration and come up). The effects are a similar to caffeine but stronger, with a more pronounced mood lift, and also a temporary cognition/memory boost, probably due to the Arecoline. However, some people react badly to betel nut in general, so if you use it orally, be sure to start very small to avoid nausea.

Also, if you do make a tea, DO NOT add lime (I'm assuming you mean calcium hydroxide and not the fruit ) It can really irritate the mouth, throat lining, etc, as it is quite caustic, and unnecessary for oral use. And finally, remember that betel does contain carcinogens, so you probably want to avoid regular use, if possible.

 

[nekointheclouds]

I see. This is good to know. I tried making something like a tea, but even then the taste was so intensely bitter, that I could only get down a few sips. I did add lime to the tea (calcium hydroxide) but I didnt drink very much. But the grinding up and putting into caps, or even parachuting it sounds like a good idea.

So I kept reading that you need the lime to make the active ingredient work well. But your saying you dont need it when ingesting the betel nut? or should I still add a small amount to my caps?

 

[Mr. Tambourine Man]

As I understand it, the lime is only necessary as a way of making it more active orally (in the seem way that it is used in coca quids). Also, its high pH may cause irritation to the mucous membranes which would increase absorption, which is the same reason that fiberglass is a component of chewing tobacco preparations.

Bottom line it you don't need it if you're using it orally in gel caps (and I would advise gel caps, as getting little bits of grit stuck in your throat is annoying). Its unnecessary and (potentially) dangerous. Betel works fine without it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_hydroxide#Health_risks

 

[ATF]

I've also read that it is smoke-able ~ wasn't able to find much using the search engine for this method of ingestion ~ anyone have any experiences with that?
I've tried smoking a little bit of betel nut (areca catechu) extract, and possibly felt some alertness. The same extract I found to be a very effective and mellow stimulant, not causing insomnia or crashes. Possibly good for people that are totally burnt out on caffeine and other CNS stimulants (like me).
From what I've read, arecoline (one of the active ingredients in areca catechu) doesn't stimulate the heart, and has more of a 'peripherally' stimulating effect.
Interesting reading about the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors ~ what betel nut activates ~ ties into muscarine from mushrooms, and atropine from datura... quite interesting

 

[Limpet_Chicken]

Betel doesn't actually refer to the nut, that is the areca nut (seed of Areca catechu) betel refers to a species of pepper, in which the prepared nut, lime and what have you is put, and chewed as a quid.

And its primarily nicotinic in action, with some muscarinic effect (partial agonist? I think at least some of the muscarinic AChR activity is that of a partial agonist)

As far as atropine goes, I have a feeling it has been detected in small quantities in some fungi, possibly A.muscaria, but the references are in an old book, old enough to still be using such terms as 'potash' 'chlorinate of lime' (potassium and calcium hypochlorite respectively), sometimes calls alkaloids 'a basic principle', and refers to morphine, strychnine and chloral hydrate as 'morphia, strychnia, and hydrate of chloral' respectively, not sure of the date but whilst not prehistoric, such as the two
19th century medical textbooks I have, where babies got mercury and chalk for teething, paregoric or potassium bromide to get them to shut the fuck up, and where the favoured treatment for piles, involves nitric acid it is quite an old herbal treatise, but it makes references to 'myco-atropine' being derived from certain fungi, I don't see how muscarine would, even in those days, be spoken of that way, given the complete polar opposite properties of the two.

What do you mean 'ties into....'

Generally speaking of a wide array of cholinergic drugs being present in fungi and plants? in which case there are many others than nicotinic and muscarinic agonists, curare, or the ( unlike curare) orally active nicotinic antagonist paralysing agents, the erythroidine alkaloids from Erythrina spp.

There are also a few present in animals, acetylcholine is a component of many insect and arachnid venoms, serving to cause pain, it is in the venom of giant centipedes, most of the venomous Hymenoptera, many spiders, and of course not forgetting the black, brown, red and white widow spiders, and the false widows (used to keep those as a pet, until they were murdered by raiding coppers) which pack a nasty little protein called alpha-latrotoxin, which causes massive release of acetylcholine, the paralysing peptides present in the venom of krait snakes, the bungarotoxins, which are used to this day in research as the ideal selective ligand for neuromuscular junction-type nicotinic ACh receptors. Also in some a mollusc, which produces a cholinesterase inhibiting nerve agent, and certain shellfish, the cone snails, which hunt fish, using venom-loaded harpoons, one species of which a nicotinic receptor-based painkiller, called prialt was developed, which is hundreds of times more effective than morphine for analgesia (although it has to be given directly into the spinal column)

Even some frogs, and a bird, which share the same toxin, batrachotoxin, those poison dart frogs are so damn toxic that some of them are capable of killing animals which tread where the frog has once walked, and kill almost instantly, that, in addition to being a damn potent sodium channel activator, causes the destructive release of acetylcholine-containing vesicles that house the neurotransmitter in synaptic terminals prior to release, causing cardiac arrythmia, then stopping the heart, get hit by one of those darts and its complete paralysis before you even hit the ground, and death within a minute or two at most.

And a fairly imfamous bacterium produces a toxin that irreversibly binds and inactivates neuromuscular nicotinic ACh receptors, paralysing the area/person exposed until new nerve terminals have been produced, Clostridium botulinum, producer of the protein botulinum toxins, of botulism fame, and of late, cosmetic and some surgical use. The botulinum toxins are the no.1 most toxic compounds yet known, around one tenth of a microgram being a fatal dose to a person of average bodyweight (1ng/kg)

 

[ATF]

No thats all awesome ~ all I was saying in the 'ties into' paragraph was that I was enjoying reading wikipedia pages about all that. Your information was also really interesting!
I haven't delved into the chemical mechanisms of areca catechu enough to say much about it, I do know that 'betel' nut is a common misnomer for areca catechu, so I wasn't swindled by the person who sold me the extract. They call it Betel Nut Extract 20x (areca catechu), and they explain that they know the difference, but often customers looking for their product aren't aware of the difference, so they call it both for convenience.

 

[Bro Smurf66]

You can get effects from drinking it, so it's not only limited to chewing it. Sometimes when I'm making coffee, I add a fair amount of finely sliced betel but to the coffee grounds before brewing. It makes the coffee way more bitter, so make sure to add more creamer and sugar. I find it adds extra stimulation to the coffee, and if you have a high tolerance to coffee it makes it feel like you're drinking coffee for the first time again. I think just putting Betel nut in a coffee maker by itself might be worthwhile as well. If you drink coffee every day, it'd be a great idea to switch between coffee and betel nut every few days to keep your tolerance low. But I don't know the health risks associated with betel nut compared to coffee.