Betel Nut Chewing: An Unrecognized Cause of Milk Alkali ...
· Betel nut chewing is a very common practice in East Africa, Far East Asia, India, and the South Pacific. It was first described by Herodotus in 340 bc and later by Marco Polo in ad 1298. In 1999, an estimated 600 million people, or 15% of the world's population, were thought to engage in betel nut chewing ( 14, 15 ).