Health experts have drawn the attention of the Government towards the health threat due to a widely consumed carcinogenic product called dohra — a mixture of areca nut (supari), catechu (kattha), edible lime, peppermint, cardamom and flavouring agents — in the eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Since, it is being sold in the market without any brand and does not carry any health warnings, people perceive it to be safer than gutkha, a banned product in Uttar Pradesh, the health experts in a study published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR) said as they called for making the people aware about its health hazards.
Because of unawareness about its health hazards, its consumption is on increase, they said.
In fact, the experts said it is being sold in different forms. For instance, dohra was found to be produced and sold in three major districts Jaunpur, Allahabad and Pratapgarh, the experts found after interviewing vendors in the region.” Different varieties of dohra existed such as dry dohra, dry mulethi dohra and wet dohra using different processing methods,” they added.
There are evidence that chronic use of this product is a major risk factor of oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) in the younger age group which might later progress to oral cancer, warned Vishwas Sharma and Ravi Kaushik from ICMR-National Institute of Cancer Prevention & Research, Noida and Amrita Nandan from Society for Life Science and Human Health, Allahabad, Ajay Kumar Shukla from Department of Botany, Ganpat Sahay P.G. College, Payagipur, Sultanpur.
They explained that its consumption leads to oral submucous fibrosis, a commonly known condition in tobacco chewers, decreases the salivary secretion, causes dental problems like stained teeth, periodontitis) as well as digestive system problems and intestinal cancer.
More studies on this product need to be undertaken. As this product increases the risk of cancer, it needs to be completely banned.
If not, at least, the product should be sold in a packet with statutory warning sign and proper details of constituents it contains, so that the consumers are aware of its adverse impact on their health as is being done in smokeless and smoking products like tobacco items and cigarettes , they suggested.
The other authors were Anshika Chandra and Ravi Mehrotra from WHO FCTC Global Knowledge Hub on Smokeless Tobacco, ICMR-National Institute of Cancer Prevention & Research, Noida and DN Sinha from School of Preventive Oncology, Patna.