{"id":96666,"date":"2026-10-31T08:19:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T00:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=96666"},"modified":"2026-10-31T08:19:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T00:19:59","slug":"reflections-how-betel-nut-chewing-in-china-became-a-habit-for-millions-from-emperors-to-commoners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=96666","title":{"rendered":"Reflections | How betel nut chewing in China became a habit for millions, from emperors to commoners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The history of the betel nut, also known as the areca nut, stretches further back than previously thought. New research suggests that people on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi were enjoying its mind-altering effects as long as 25,000 years ago.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The discovery began with two ancient skeletons whose teeth bore curious, deep grooves. Australian archaeologists suspected these were the result of repeatedly sucking on whole betel nuts. Chemical analysis subsequently detected traces of arecoline, the psychoactive compound in the seeds of the areca palm, lending weight to their theory.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Today, betel nut is commonly chewed in a preparation combining the nut with slaked lime, or calcium hydroxide in powdered form, and other ingredients. It ranks among the world\u2019s most widely consumed psychoactive substances after caffeine, alcohol and nicotine, with an estimated 600 million users, predominantly across South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Africa and the Pacific.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-mv7ovk e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-bjn8wh e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Betel leaves slathered with lime and stuffed with betel nut are served in a paandaan (betel leaf container) in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. Betel nuts, also called areca nuts, remain popular in parts of Asia and Africa. Photo: Rathina Sankari\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/10\/28\/99b697f6-d120-4568-af7b-4eda158551ca_68eea6ac.jpg\" title=\"Betel leaves slathered with lime and stuffed with betel nut are served in a paandaan (betel leaf container) in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. Betel nuts, also called areca nuts, remain popular in parts of Asia and Africa. Photo: Rathina Sankari\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">Betel leaves slathered with lime and stuffed with betel nut are served in a paandaan (betel leaf container) in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. Betel nuts, also called areca nuts, remain popular in parts of Asia and Africa. Photo: Rathina Sankari<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Like many people in Southeast Asia, my great-grandmother, my paternal grandfather\u2019s mother, was a habitual betel nut chewer. She died before I was born, but family members who remember her describe a stout <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Chinese Peranakan<\/span> lady who invariably wore Malay-style clothing and spoke only Malay.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/chinese-culture\/article\/3372435\/how-betel-nut-chewing-china-became-habit-millions-emperors-commoners\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The history of the betel nut, also known as the areca nut, stretches further back than previously thought. New research suggests that people on the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[32293,20982,832,32294,6533,15980,10909,6795,5433],"class_list":["post-96666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-betel","tag-chewing","tag-china","tag-commoners","tag-emperors","tag-habit","tag-millions","tag-nut","tag-reflections","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/96667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}