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Updated 2020 Sep 24
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It’s hard to exercise restraint when eating candy. For licorice lovers, indulging sparingly could actually be lifesaving.
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Updated 2020 Sep 24
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It’s hard to exercise restraint when eating candy. For licorice lovers, indulging sparingly could actually be lifesaving.
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A study published recently in The New England Journal of Medicine says a 54-year-old man died as a result of eating too much licorice.
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The man, a construction worker from Massachusetts, lost consciousness inside a fast-food restaurant and was taken to a hospital, where he died the next day.
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Doctors wrote that he had “a poor diet, consisting primarily of several packages of candy daily,” and that three weeks before, he switched from eating fruit-flavored soft candy to licorice candy, which contained glycyrrhizic acid.
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CNN has reached out to Dr. Elazer Edelman, one of the study’s authors, and is waiting to hear back.
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Glycyrrhizic acid, or glycyrrhizin, a sweetening compound derived from licorice root, can cause a drop in potassium levels in the body, which in turn may cause high blood pressure, swelling, abnormal heart rhythms and even heart failure, according to the FDA.
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People 40 or older should be especially vigilant about their black licorice consumption: even 2 ounces per day, over a two-week period, could cause irregular heart rhythm and may require hospitalization, the FDA cautions.
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The negative effects of eating too much licorice are reversible, and wane when consumption is interrupted. A return to normal potassium levels may take one to two weeks, according to the study.
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Luckily, there are safe alternatives. According to the NIH, many licorice products available in the US don’t actually contain licorice, but rather anise oil, which is comparable in flavor.
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(For the source of this, and many other equally curious articles, please visit: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/24/us/man-dies-eating-too-much-licorice-trnd/index.html)