Aspects of the Chemistry and Biological Activity of Betel Nut Grown in Hawaii

Betel or areca nut is the seed of the Areca catechu palm. Depending on the reporting source, it is estimated that betel nut is chewed by 10 – 20% of the world's people. After nicotine, alcohol and caffeine it is the fourth most commonly used psychoactive substance. Studies and reports relating to betel nut are relatively common and range from analysis of their chemical content through to demographics of nut use. The quality of the data reported in these studies is highly variable and is often based on unsubstantiated facts from previous studies. For example, it is consistently reported that the four pyridine alkaloids; arecoline, arecaidine, guvacoline, and guvacine, are present in all nuts worldwide, and that these are either directly or indirectly the causative agents of addiction to chewing and of associated oral cancers. While these latter claims may or may not be true for some samples around the world there is clearly a significant likelihood that not all nuts are the same. In this respect we decided to undertake investigations of nuts from Guam and nearby islands as well as from Hawaii. In this presentation, preliminary results from some analytical and biological studies undertaken with nuts investigated from Hawaii relating to alkaloid content, their possible link to addiction and cancer formation are reported.