Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Gutka habit a cause for concern

VISAKHAPATNAM: Even young boys of 12 years or 14 years of age have picked up the habit of chewing gutka from their elders; some elders pop it in their mouths after consuming alcohol for an extra kick but the most disturbing fact is that gutka is also consumed to kill the appetite and there by the hunger of the poor who are not assured of food every day.

These are some of the facts revealed during a study conducted by the Department of Environmental Sciences of GITAM University to find out the relationship between gutka chewing including smoking, and oral micro flora in some slum dwellers of Visakhapatnam.

The team headed by Dr. A.V.A.S.N. Maruthi took the details of slums from where most of the gutka-related cases are reported and selected at random the people it wanted to test in 15 slums in and around the city.

Their health data was gathered with the help of a questionnaire and oral saliva samples were collected from 1,000 people who chew gutka and habituated to smoking, most of them males.

Most of them were in the 14-20 years and 32-45 years age groups. Gutka users in Visakhapatnam slums are mostly labourers and they revealed that it was used to kill hunger.

The survey showed that decrease in salivation and mucous formation in gutka chewers further resulted in reduction in number of oral micro flora. Aspergillus species appeared only in gutka chewers and smokers.

Gutka chewing and smoking thus might lead to an increase in the oral pathogens by reducing the normal symbiotic microbial flora.

It was also observed that gutka users in Visakhapatnam slums were suffering with periodontal diseases, oral cancer and mucosal fibrosis. The study team felt that there was an urgent need to create awareness and provide education regarding safe alternatives.

Smokers and chewers needed assistance in quitting their dangerous habits, which could be provided by safe alternatives. Ban on smoking and gutka distribution were ineffective unless a safe and healthy alternative was provided.

According to WHO the high premature mortality was attributed to tobacco consumption amounting to 4 million deaths in a year, which is expected to rise to 8.4 million deaths by the year 2020 and more than 70 per cent of these deaths were estimated to occur in the developing countries like India.

During the recent years, in India, both in urban and rural, consumption of tobacco in the form of direct chewing of gutka, one major reason for oral cancer, is alarmingly increasing especially in the young adults.

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