In the last
two Blogs, the arecoline content of green areca nuts of 6-7 months maturity has
been discussed. In the current Blog, Arecoline and other alkaloids content of green nuts of 2-5 months maturity is being discussed. Areca nuts of this maturity is being utilized
for consumption in Taiwan and China.
Wang et al., (1997), had studied the arecoline content of fresh areca
nuts of 2 and 3 months’ maturity collected from Taiwan. They had
reported the concentration of all the alkaloids in 2-3 months’ maturity as
follows.
Yuan et al., (2012) had studied the arecoline content of fresh areca nuts collected from twelve prominent areca growing districts of Hainan province of China and had analyzed those fresh nuts (perhaps 4-5 months’ maturity). They had also estimated the concentration of Arecaidine and Guvacine in them as follows.
Jantarat et
al., (2013) had reported an arecoline content of 0.143 % in 3 months old fresh
nuts. They had purchased the areca
nuts from Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand and had used HPLC to estimate the
alkaloids.
From the above cited reports, it is clear that the arecoline content in the green nuts of Taiwan (2-3 month's maturity) was in the range of 0.7 % (7 mg/g), whereas the arecoline content was mere 0.143% (1.43 mg/g) in the areca nut from Thailand. A significant variation was found in the arecoline content in the green nuts collected from Hainan China as well. The values were ranging between 0.217 to 0.764 % (2.17 to 7.64 mg/g)
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