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Poster Presentations
Day 2, June 23（Mon.）
Room P (Maesato East, Foyer, Ocean Wing)
- 2P-PM-16（4B-O2-1455）
Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Carcinogenic Areca Nut-Specific Alkaloids in Cooked Areca catechu L.: A Cautionary Note on Dietary Exposure
(1NDMC, 2CSMU)
oSzu-Yi Chao1, Chiao-Jou Yu2, Yuan-Jhe Chang2, Chiung-Wen Hu2, Mu-Rong Chao2
Areca nuts and their alkaloids (e.g., arecoline) are known carcinogens. Despite this, the sweet inner shoots and inflorescences of Areca catechu continue to be consumed in Taiwan, China, and Southeast Asia, often boiled, simmered, or served cold. In addition to eating them, people commonly drink the resulting broth. This study used LC-MS/MS to simultaneously quantify arecoline, arecaidine, guvacoline, guvacine, and N-methylnipecotic acid in Areca catechu shoots and examine their release into broth over 5–240 min of boiling.
Our results showed that fresh shoots contained ~0.8 mg/g total alkaloids, with guvacine accounting for half. During heating, at least 70% of alkaloids were released into the broth within 5 min. Additionally, ~50% of arecoline and guvacoline degraded within 60 min, with most being converted to arecaidine and guvacine, respectively. These findings highlight the health risks of consuming Areca catechu shoots and their broth. Since a significant portion of alkaloids is rapidly released into the broth, both eating the plant tissues and drinking the soup may result in direct exposure to carcinogenic alkaloids. Given the well-documented carcinogenicity of areca nut, habitual consumption of Areca catechu shoots and broth could pose an underestimated public health risk, warranting greater awareness and regulatory consideration.