Can girls not get pregnant if they eat betel nut?

In many parts of China, there has always been a habit of eating betel nut. In fact, betel nut was originally one of the main medicinal plants, but now people prefer to bite it as a snack. So, can pregnant women eat betel nut? A scientific study shows that long-term intake of arecabolin in betel seeds and safrole in betel flowers does have a significant inhibitory effect on the survival and growth of fetal umbilical cord endothelial cells, so it is better for pregnant mothers not to chew them.

In addition to causing oral cancer, many survey reports also show that eating betel nut starts from biting the lips, whether it penetrates into the body through the mucous membrane or blood, posing a carcinogenic threat to the mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach, and liver; in addition, a study also found that if pregnant women have the habit of taking betel nut, the probability of causing reproductive harm such as miscarriage and premature birth also increases.

Five years ago, Ge Yingqin, director of the Medical and Hygiene Research Group of the National Health Research Institute, conducted a retrospective survey using questionnaires on 186 pregnant women in Pingtung, Qingdao and Taitung. He found that among the 62 women who had poor pregnancy, 43% had eaten betel nuts. Excluding the influencing factors of tobacco and alcohol, the analysis showed that the probability of reproductive harm among pregnant women who ate betel nuts alone was 2.8 times that of ordinary pregnant women. Last year, a more detailed survey was conducted in hospitals, and it was found that the risk of harm increased to 5 times. In addition to the high probability of miscarriage, the birth weight of the babies was also slightly lower.

Areca nut and safrole are recognized as the main components of betel nut that cause carcinogenesis and cell mutations. If the fetus is exposed to these harmful substances, it may cause deformity, growth retardation, or even death. However, current research on the effects of betel nut on pregnancy focuses on animals. As for the effects of eating betel nut on the human nervous system, except for the discovery of genetic mutations in cervical cells and maternal lymphocyte chromosomes, other studies still focus on clinical epidemiology. Kaohsiung Municipal Hospital used human fetal umbilical cord blood vessels for the first time to conduct experiments.

Their research shows that short-term (30 minutes to 2 hours) administration of areca nut and safrole can reduce the support of fetal umbilical cord blood vessels, that is, induce vasodilation, and the greater the dosage, the stronger the effect. This suggests that short-term administration of these two carcinogenic ingredients in betel nut can actually improve the blood circulation of the fetus and embryo, allowing the fetus to more completely obtain nutrients from the mother, but this still needs further research verification. However, long-term administration (24 to 48 hours) of areca anteroside and safrole will produce significant side effects. Not only are the fetal umbilical cord endothelial cells inhibited, but the greater the dosage of areca anteroside used, the stronger the effect will be. It may even poison the cells and cause cell growth interruption, thus affecting the endocrine system of endothelial cells.

In recent years, scientific studies have pointed out that gestational hypertension, which often leads to high-risk pregnancies, is an endothelial cell disease. They have found that arecaroot and safrole do have effects on the umbilical cord endothelial cells of the fetus. Therefore, the relationship between these two arecaroot components and gestational hypertension is worth further discussion.