The Central Areca nut and Cocoa Marketing and Cooperative Society (CAMPCO) had funded a
project to study if the whole areca nut has toxicity at cellular and organismal level. DST TEC
enabled this funding and the activities were carried out at Nitte University Center for Science
Education and Research (NUCSER) and the AB Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences
(ABSMIDS). A consolidated project report on evaluation of the effect of areca nut aqueous
extract on cultured cells, in drosophila and zebra fish models as well as detection of oral cancer
in populations chewing areca with other ingredients was presented by the scientists of NUCSER
and ABSMIDS to the CAMPCO Management team on 25 June, 2024 at 10.00 am at DST TEC.
Prof. Dr Indrani Karunasagar, Director (Projects & DST-TEC), Nitte DU, welcomed the gathering
and gave the opening remarks, and Prof. Dr Iddya Karunasagar, Advisor (Research & Patents),
Nitte DU, introduced Dr B V Sathyanarayana to the gathering.
Dr B V Sathyanarayana, Managing Director, CAMPCO; Dr Keshava Bhat, Head of Areca Research
and Development Foundation (ARDF) and Mrs Reshama Mallya, General Manager, CAMPCO
and Mr Krishna, Agricultural officer were present. The core investigators of the project Dr
Anirban Chakraborty, Department of Molecular Genetics and Cancer, Director, Dr Anurag
Sharma, Department of Environmental Health and Toxicology, Dr Sudarshan Kini, Department
of Bio & Nanotechnology, NUCSER; and Dr Audrey M Decruz and Dr Thara Chandran,
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Dr. Pushparaj Shetty, Department of Oral and
Maxillofacial Pathology and Oral Microbiology, ABSMIDS along with the research scholars
presented the findings from the project. Overall, the results suggest that aqueous extract of
areca nut is not toxic at cellular and organism level and in the community study of population
chewing only cashew, no oral cancer was detected.
Event Date : 2024-06-25
Venue : DST-TEC Board room, Nitte DU, Paneer Campus.
Last updated 2024-08-17 04:09:09