Ransaru Dehydrated Areca Nut (Betel Nuts) Slices Pack holds areca nut that has been sliced and dehydrated, packed by Ransaru in a kraft stand-up pouch. The label names it in English and in Sinhala as dehydrated puwak slices. Areca nut is the seed of the areca palm and is widely called betel nut because it is traditionally chewed wrapped in a betel leaf.
In Sri Lanka, areca belongs to the betel tray, the bulath heppuwa, offered to elders, teachers and monks as a mark of respect. Betel leaves and areca appear at the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, at weddings and at temple rituals, and the palm is grown across the wetter districts of the island.
Areca nut carries a serious health risk, and we want that to be plain. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies areca nut on its own as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), and betel quid chewed without tobacco is also in Group 1, linked to cancer of the mouth. Areca is the principal cause of oral submucous fibrosis, and its alkaloid arecoline is dependence-forming.
Nothing on this page is a recommendation to chew areca nut or to eat it in any form. Import of areca nut is restricted in some countries: in the United States, for example, food products that are or contain areca nut are subject to detention at the border under a Food and Drug Administration import alert. Please check the rules of your own country before ordering.
