The relationship between areca nut usage and heart rate in lactating Bangladeshis.
BACKGROUND
The betel-nut quid, a piece of areca nut chewed alone or mixed with tobacco and slaked lime wrapped in betel vine leaf, is widely used in Asian populations as a stimulant (due to the cholinergic agent, arecoline) or as a relaxant (due to arecaidine and guvacine).


OBJECTIVE
This study, which formed part of a larger project assessing the effect of energy expenditure on the duration of post-partum amenorrhoea, provided the opportunity to assess the role of chronic areca nut usage on heart rate and oxygen consumption during resting periods and during graded stepping tests.


METHODS
The mothers (n = 47), all of whom were lactating, were aged between 19 and 39, of low nutritional status and anaemic and they all chewed betel quid daily.


RESULTS
Moderate users of betel quid (defined as more than 3 times a day) were found, on average, to have a significantly lower heart rate at rest and during exercise than low betel quid users (less than 3 times a day) but there was no modification in oxygen consumption.


CONCLUSIONS
Chronic betel quid use does not seem to affect the assessment of 24h energy expenditure provided that subjects are denied access to betel nut usage before and during calibration.
Vinoy
S
S
Laboratoire de Physiologie des Adaptations, Faculté de Médecine Cochin Port-Royal, Paris, France.
Mascie-Taylor
C G N
CG
Rosetta
L
L
D000328:Adult; D001114:Areca; D001459:Bangladesh; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007774:Lactation / Q000502:physiology*; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D010946:Plants, Medicinal