Abstract
Smokeless tobacco products are a known cause of oral cancer in India. Carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines in these products are believed to be at least partially responsible for cancer induction, but there have been no recent analyses of their amounts. We quantified levels of 4 tobacco-specific nitrosamines, N′-nitrosonornicotine (NNN), N′-nitrosoanatabine (NAT), N′-nitrosoanabasine (NAB) and 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)- 1-butanone (NNK), in 32 products marketed currently in India. Levels of nitrate, nitrite and nicotine were also determined. The highest levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines were found in certain brands of khaini, zarda and other smokeless tobacco products. Concentrations of NNN and NNK in these products ranged from 1.74-76.9 and 0.08-28.4 μg/g, respectively. Levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines in gutka were generally somewhat lower than in these products, but still considerably higher than nitrosamine levels in food. Tobacco-specific nitrosamines were rarely detected in supari, which does not contain tobacco, or in tooth powders. The results of our study demonstrate that exposure to substantial amounts of carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines through use of smokeless tobacco products remains a major problem in India.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 16-19 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | International Journal of Cancer |
Volume | 116 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 10 2005 |
Keywords
- Gutka
- Indian tobacco
- Khaini
- Mishri
- Oral cancer
- Tobacco-specific nitrosamines
- Zarda