Editing Gutka (section)

== Characteristics ==
Gutka is a commercially produced form of [[smokeless tobacco]]. Manufacturers add sweet or savory flavors, making it more appealing to women and young people in some locations.<ref name="emro.who.int">{{cite web |title=The truth about smokeless tobacco use {{!}} Know the truth {{!}} TFI |url=http://www.emro.who.int/tfi/know-the-truth/smokeless-tobacco-use.html |website=www.emro.who.int |publisher=World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office |access-date=7 December 2019 |archive-date=7 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207223518/http://www.emro.who.int/tfi/know-the-truth/smokeless-tobacco-use.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The combinations of gutka ingredients vary according to local preferences. Spices may include [[Mustard plant|mustard]], [[turmeric]], [[anise|anise seeds]], [[cardamom]], [[saffron]] and [[cloves]].<ref name="Smoking and Tobacco Use"/>

In addition to [[areca nut]], [[nicotine]], [[slaked lime]], paraffin and [[catechu]], it can be laced with thousands of chemicals.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Banerji |first1=Annie |title=India "gutka" chewing tobacco habit a tough nut to crack |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-tobacco-idUSBRE88508420120906 |website=Reuters |publisher=Thomson Reuters |access-date=7 December 2019 |language=en |date=6 September 2012 |archive-date=6 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191206191631/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-tobacco-idUSBRE88508420120906 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is a powdery, granular, light brownish to white substance. Within moments of chewing mixing with saliva, the gutkha begins to dissolve and turn deep red in colour. It may impart upon its user a "buzz" somewhat more intense than that of tobacco chewing, snuffing and smoking.{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}

Gutka turns saliva bright red, and when it is chewed long and often enough it will stain a user's teeth bright red too. Saliva is generally spat onto a wall or at the ground, causing a red stain that is quite resistant to the elements. Some building owners have taken to combating this by painting murals of gods on their walls, with the idea that gutkha chewers would not spit on a god.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kolhatkar |first1=Sandip |date=12 April 2013 |title=Do not spit here, for god's sake! |url=https://www.mid-day.com/articles/do-not-spit-here--for-gods-sake/208490 |access-date=7 December 2019 |website=mid-day |language=en |archive-date=8 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191208040751/https://www.mid-day.com/articles/do-not-spit-here--for-gods-sake/208490 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Bearak |first1=Max |title=Officials in India are really sick and tired of their country's tobacco habit |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/04/18/officials-in-india-are-really-sick-and-tired-of-their-countrys-tobacco-habit/ |access-date=7 December 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en |archive-date=8 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191208040750/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/04/18/officials-in-india-are-really-sick-and-tired-of-their-countrys-tobacco-habit/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Bhattasali |first=Amitabha |date=23 November 2011 |title=Scheme to save Calcutta's Howrah Bridge from spit |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-15837262 |access-date=16 August 2013 |work=BBC News |archive-date=24 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724110742/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-15837262 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Areca nut "quid chewing has claimed to produce a sense of well being, euphoria, warm sensations of the body, sweating, salivation, palpitation and heightened alertness, tolerance to hunger, and increased capacity and stamina to work."<ref name="Arecanut as an emerging etiology of">{{cite journal |last1=Shah |first1=Gunjan |last2=Chaturvedi |first2=Pankaj |last3=Vaishampayan |first3=Sagar |date=2012 |title=Arecanut as an emerging etiology of oral cancers in India |journal=Indian Journal of Medical and Paediatric Oncology |publisher=Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology : Official Journal of Indian Society of Medical & Paediatric Oncology |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=71–79 |doi=10.4103/0971-5851.99726 |pmc=3439794 |pmid=22988348 |doi-access=free}}</ref>