Authentic betel nut tastes bitter, but it is not the same as chewing with hibiscus and shell ash. It is sweet. Betel nut can be eaten and chewed with salt water. It is normal for the first chewer to have a red face and chest tightness. Long-term use of betel nut will damage the true qi, and excessive use will exhaust the supreme qi, so it is not advisable to take it in excess.

Chewing betel nut regularly will not only seriously damage teeth, but also lead to red and black teeth, and even fall off early, and there is a high risk of cancer. As early as 2003, the International Center for Research on Cancer under the World Health Organization had identified betel nut as a first-class carcinogen.

Extended data

Areca catechu originated in Malaysia, mainly distributed in Southeast Asia, tropical Asia, East Africa and parts of Europe. Mainly distributed in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Micronesia in the Pacific Ocean, with sporadic distribution in Pinape Island, American Mariana Islands and Marshall Islands. Betel nuts in Hawaii are grown just for viewing.

There are 36 varieties of betel nut known in the world, and people in different regions have different classification methods for these cultivated varieties. For example, farmers in Hainan divide areca catechu into long-stem species and short-stem species according to inflorescence and fruiting conditions, and the yield, alkaloid types and contents, medicinal value and biological and ecological characteristics of different varieties of areca catechu are quite different.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Areca catechu (Primitive Palmae)