Chao Kun-yu, deputy director of the Bureau of Health Promotion under the Department of Health, said the trend is believed to be related to the practice of chewing betel nuts and succumbing to the "betel nut beauty" phenomenon in which scantily-dressed young women are ensconced in brightly lit glass enclosures along roadsides throughout Taiwan to lure people to buy betel nuts and cigarettes.

Citing statistics compiled by the bureau, Chao said the biggest potential health threat to Taiwanese men in their prime, between the ages of 22 and 44, is not liver or lung cancer but rather oral cancer.

"Each year, more than 5,400 local men in that age group are diagnosed with oral cancer and, as a result, about 2,300 families lose their breadwinners, " Chao said. Most oral cancer patients tend to die at around 54, more than 10 years younger that the average age of mortality for other forms of cancer, he noted.

According to Chao, about 15 percent of Taiwan's male population have the habit of chewing betel nuts.

"Although the percentage is declining, the oral cancer morbidity and mortality rates have been rising continually because of the increasing betel nut population over the years and growing health threat from long-term use of the product," he explained.

More local men could fall victim to the disease in the coming decade, he added.

Starting next year, the government will offer subsidies for smokers and betel nut chewers over the age of 30 to undergo oral submucous tests once every two years with a view to detecting oral cancer in the early stages, Chao said.

In addition, as part of efforts to remind betel nut addicts - commonly known as the "red lip clique" - of the risks of betel nut chewing, the health promotion bureau has invited 12 oral cancer patients to narrate their personal experiences, Chao said.

They will talk about their betel nut habit and the pain that oral cancer has brought them and their families, he said.