A two-day interactive workshop on arecanut and human health will begin at the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod, Kerala, from June 24.
All stakeholders of arecanut such as agricultural, chemical and clinical research scientists, human health specialists, traditional practitioners, growers, consumers, traders, policy makers will attend it, a release from the CPCRI said.
Manjunatha K. Naik, vice-chancellor, University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences (UAHS), Shivamogga, will speak at the inaugural session.
It would be followed by talks by J. Ishwar Bhat and K. Sumalatha, teachers from the Department of Chemistry, Mangalore University, on “identification and characterisation of chemical constituents of arecanut at its different stages”, by M.P. Sadashiva, a teacher at the Department of Chemistry, University of Mysore, on “phytochemicals and therapeutic potential of arecanut” and by Laxmi Narayan Hegde, a scientist from Horticulture Research and Extension Centre, UHS, Bagalkot, on the anti-oxidant properties of arecanut.
The other topics to be discussed on the first day would include arecanut and human health – challenges, research on arecanut and cancer in colleges of ayurveda, clinical evaluation of Dia Ketechu, a compound herbal formulation in non-insulin dependent diabetes, experimental evaluation of anti-diabetic activity of areca tea on Wistar albino rats, use of arecanut in folk medicine.
The second day’s topics would cover wound healing profile of areca catechu extracts on different wound models in Wistar rats, wound healing, anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of arecanut’s anti-ulcerogenic effects of arecanut, pharmacological investigation of areca catechu extracts for evaluation of learning, memory and behaviour in rats.
In addition, topics such as arecanut husk and its protective effect on the tobacco induced cultured human oral mucosal cells, antibacterial effects of arecanut, alternative uses of arecanut and arecanut and oral health, consumption pattern and health issues of arecanut chewers in Karnataka, the release said.
