Chowdappa, P.

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NEWS  CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 115, NO. 6, 25 SEPTEMBER 2018 1025*A report on the Interactive Workshop on‘Arecanut and Human Health’ held on 24 and 25 July 2018 at ICAR-Central PlantationCrops Research Institute, Kasaragod. MEETING REPORT  Arecanut and human health*  Arecanut consumption and its effect on human health is of much concern in re-cent times in India. Even though there were limitations in the epidemiological studies and lack of evidence-based re-search, voluminous reports were pre-pared alleging arecanut as a cancer-causing agent based on information available on the internet and submitted before the Supreme Court of India. This has caused much anxiety in the arecanut community, including growers, scien-tists, policymakers, traders and officials of the developmental agencies. A two-day interactive workshop was conducted recently with regard to research on are-canut and human health, and to identify the shortcomings and prioritize future re-search.  All the organizations involved in re-search or continuing research on arecanut and human health aspects, including can-cer research institutes, medical colleges and institutes, ayurveda colleges and centres, traditional and agricultural uni-versities, Health Secretaries of all the States and Union Territories, State Direc-tors of the National Health Mission (NHM), and all other concerned were in-formed about the workshop. In response to our invitation, 25 medical practition-ers, 30 scientists associated with arecanut production and value addition, 150 tra-ders and growers, administrators, advo-cates and officials of developmental agencies attended the workshop.  During the inauguration, P. Chowdappa (Director, ICAR-CPCRI, Kasaragod) en-listed many positive effects of arecanut and unequivocally urged all those con-cerned to dispel the prevailing negative notions on the crop through evidence-based research. Satheesh Kumar Bhan-dary (NITTE University, Mangaluru) suggested identification and study of areca-only chewers for epidemiological research and emphasized on the need to explore the potential of arecanut in treat-ing Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and other neuroprotective effects. Man-junatha Naik (University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shivamogga) considered that it is important to dispel some preconceived notions about areca-nut, e.g. is not good for health. V. V. Bhat (former Secretary to the Govern-ment of India) called for need-based re-search on arecanut with the collaboration of multiple research institutions breaking their respective academic barriers.   Presentations in the workshop were made under five technical sessions, namely (i) phytochemistry, (ii) arecanut in ayurvedic medicine and value addition, (iii) pharmacology I: neuro-protective, hyperglycaemic, wound-healing effects etc., (iv) pharmacology-II: anti-microbial properties, and (v) epidemiological stu-dies.   In the technical session on phytoche-mistry, papers were presented regarding the chemical constituents of arecanut, their variability with maturity, structural significance, etc. J. Ishwar Bhat (Manga-lore University) observed increased chemical components of nuts, including tannins and alkaloids with maturity.  X-ray crystallography showed distinct differences in the chemical structure of arecanut and gutkha with low N content in the dried nut compared to the tender nut and gutkha. M. P. Sadashiva (Uni-versity of Mysore) described how a small change in structural moiety of alkaloids could result in some valuable compounds of medicinal/therapeutic/industrial use (e.g. tannins from arecanut can be  converted to ink). Further, antioxidant property of arecanut is found to be  significantly influenced by genotype × environment as observed by Laxmina-rayan Hegde (University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot).  In the session on arecanut in ayurvedic medicine and value addition, there were seven presentations. Sathyanarayana Bhat (Ayurvedic practitioner and Sahi-thya Academy awardee) enlisted the tra-ditional uses of arecanut for treating various ailments. Jayarama Bhat (For-merly with Goa University) highlighted the demerits of some of studies, such as improper dosage of arecanut, sample size and absence of clarity in the methodolo-gies followed. V. V. Bhat suggested that in ayurveda there is a need for systematic research and the findings should be pub-lished in high impact factor journals to popularize it as medicine. A product, areca tea, which elicited anti-diabetic  activity in Wistar albino rats, was pre-sented by Naveen Chandra (SDM Col-lege of Ayurveda and Hospital, Udupi) who requested to revisit the methodolo-gies followed. The mechanism of disease control in ayurveda, i.e. how arecanut chemical constituents are best suited in ayurvedic medicines to ward off doshas vata, pitta and kapha was narrated by M. D. Giridhar Kaje (Prashanti Ayurvedic Center, Bengaluru) and Jeddu Ganapathi Bhat (Jeddu Ayurveda Specialty Hos-pital, Bengaluru). Arecanut and its  importance in traditional and folk medi-cines was highlighted by Hemand Ara-vind (Santhigiri Research Foundation, Thiruvananthapuram), Subrahmanya Pra-sad (Nehru Arts & Science College, Kanhangad) and Shankar Bhat Badanaje (Traditional Practitioner, Vittala).  In the pharmacology session, findings from experiments conducted in vitro and animal studies were presented. All parts of the arecanut inflorescence, including flower, seed nut and husk are found to have medicinal properties. In alloxan-induced diabetic rats, Virupanagouda  Patil (Bijapur Lingayat District Educa-tion Association (BLDEA) College of Pharmacy, Bijapur) observed anti-hyperglycaemic activity of Areca cate-chu flowers. On the other hand, arecanut husk reduced the tobacco-induced cyto-toxic and genotoxic effects as well as oxidative stress in cultured human oral mucosal cells (Manjula Shantaram, Man-galore University) and wound-healing properties (Sukesh Bhat, Kodagu Insti-tute of Medical Sciences, Madikeri). Wound-healing property was further ela-borated by Sachidananda Adiga (K. S. Hegde Medical Academy (KSHEMA), Mangaluru) who showed that extracts of arecanut increased the wound contraction and period of epithelization. From the study he inferred that alkaloid and poly-phenols of areca could be used to en-hance the healing of burn wounds, leg ulcers and donor skin graft surgery. Anti-ulcerogenic activity of aqueous extract of NEWS  CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 115, NO. 6, 25 SEPTEMBER 2018 1026*A report on the International Workshop on‘Modern techniques for molecular and mor-phological characterization of crustaceans’, held during 25 June to 6 July 2018. The work-shop was organized by the Centre of AdvancedStudies in Marine Biology, Annamalai Uni-versity and sponsored by the Ministry ofEarth Sciences, New Delhi. A. catechu in ethanol was confirmed by Reena R. Nelson (P.S.G. College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore). Further, the positive effect of arecanut extract on learning and memory in rats using eight-arm radial maze led M. P. Joshi (Goa College of Pharmacy) to hypothesize that arecanut extracts could control schizoph-renia symptoms and also have a positive effect on Alzheimer’s disease.  Another feature of arecanut is its anti-microbial properties. When arecanut  extract was used as root-canal irrigant, it significantly brought down the popula-tion of Enterococcus fecalis and  suppressed oral bacteria such as Strepto-coccus mutans, S. salivarius, Candida albicans and Fusiform nucleatum. This encouraged N. Malathi (Sri Ramachandra Medical College, Chennai) to recom-mend arecanut extract to be a component of toothpaste for preventing oral diseas-es. Similar observations were made by Rekha Rai (KSHEMA, Mangaluru) who reported suppression of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans and Ente-rococcus faecalis. She suggested the  extract spray can be used as hand disin-fectant or hospital sanitizer.   In the epidemiology session, A. Ruck-mani (Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute, Chennai) reviewed the last 10 years’ publications and found some limi-tations regarding the research projects conducted so far – most of them were in vitro on cultured cell lines or animal stu-dies. The methodical and technical gaps in such publications were highlighted by S. Keshava Bhat (Arecanut Research and Development Foundation, Mangaluru) and Ravichandra (KSHEMA). A recent pilot survey conducted in Karnataka did not show any harmful effects of arecanut chewing on human health (C. T. Jose, CPCRI, Vittal).   Speaking at the valedictory session, K. Satyamoorthy (Manipal University) and Vijayalakshmi Deshmane (formerly with Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bengaluru) mentioned that arecanut is a good source of phytochemicals and can be a treasure trove for substances of pharmacological interest. They opined that further research is needed on the biomedical and psycho-social conse-quences of areca usage.   K. N. Bhat (Advocate, Supreme Court of India) who delivered the valedictory address, was convinced that arecanut does not have negative effects and urged all those concerned to compile evidence-based research reports and file an affida-vit with the Central Government at the earliest.   The majority of medical practitioners were of the opinion that reports on the effects of arecanut consumption on hu-man health are only observational and not based on any systematic scientific studies. Arecanut was also described to possess antimicrobial properties and re-duce digestive disorders, diabetes, and depression. Most of the findings were in vitro or animal studies. However, it was recognized that all the health benefits listed require systematic research and clinical trials and need to be published in reputed journals. A multi-institutional project involving basic and strategic, bio-chemical, cell line and clinical research was suggested to understand the effects of arecanut consumption in various forms on human health. Preclinical and clinical trials for the development and discovery of new drugs, possible thera-peutic effects and toxicity were also dis-cussed.  P. Chowdappa, K. B. Hebbar* and S. V. Ramesh, ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod 671 124, India. *e-mail: balakbh64@gmail.com      MEETING REPORT  Modern techniques for molecular and morphological characterization of crustaceans*  Taxonomy is one of the oldest branches of science, dating as far back as the hu-man language itself. It has significantly advanced from Aristotle to Linnaeus, and since the modern Linnaean system, many taxonomists have emerged. Molecular techniques have been added to modern taxonomy in recent times. However, at present, the number of taxonomists has dwindled, and this has resulted in a greater number of unknown, undescribed organisms. To address this taxonomic impediment, a two-week long interna-tional workshop on modern techniques for molecular and morphological cha-racterization of crustaceans was recently organized. The primary aim of the work-shop was to train researchers in modern taxonomic techniques and create a net-work of crustacean taxonomy experts in India, which is a small group at present. It encompassed talks, practical sessions as well as field trips regarding various aspects of crustaceans. Experts from Germany, Japan, Malaysia and India trained a group of 25 students with vary-ing degrees of knowledge on crustaceans and taxonomy. Subject experts addressed important crustacean taxonomy topics during the workshop.  Morphological characterization is the first step towards identifying a species, and the oldest way of taxonomy. Identi-fication by morphology of prawns, crabs, lobsters, isopods and copepods was taught with great fervour, and pictorial representations as well as handling of the specimens. K. Valarmathi (Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata) and B. Vasee-haran (Alagappa University, Karaikudi) conducted lecture sessions on the identification of freshwater prawns and 

Arecanut and human health

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Arecanut and human health

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