How Much Licorice Is Safe?

Eating licorice or drinking licorice tea can cause the loss of body fat by blocking the effects of a stress hormone, but at what cost?

I’m so glad I was finally able to publish this. It was removed from How Not to Diet due to space considerations, but I always found this topic so fascinating.



Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

[MindVersusMisery]

As a Swede this is potentially life saving info. Here in Sweden we love licorice with lots of salt, and me and my wife can eat a bag in one sitting in front of the telly. No wonder why I recently felt as if my heart did acrobatics in my chest. Now it's time for a family emergency meeting about our snacking habits.

Thanks Doc!

[imoldthis]

It happened to me. I was gifted some amazingly delicious black licorice covered with chocolate and salted caramel. European. I found it on Amazon and started ordering it regularly. I got two containers on a Friday, ate one of them. Went to my doctor the next morning - my blood pressure was off the charts. We had no idea what was going on. I went home, and as I ate the second container I did some research. I wondered if perhaps one of my supplements was the culprit. That's when I discovered the black licorice connection. I sent an email to my doctor. He had never seen such a case before. I went back in a couple of weeks and my BP was close to normal again.

[jeanneamato]

I had heard that it was bad for those with high blood pressure so warned customers at my herb shop about it. I might have lost a sale but my customers trusted me and stayed healthy.

[paulmaxwell]

My sister developed a cardiac arrythmia, specifically a PVC or premature ventricular contractions, which was a tremendous cause for concern. She was otherwise quite healthy. She went for batteries of tests such as treadmill stress tests, bloodwork etc. The doctors didn't know what to think. In the end, I read up on it and traced the cause to excess licorice consumption coupled with the large daily intake of deionized water. Deionized water was RO or reverse osmosis water, which is devoid of minerals. She cut out the licorice and switched to drinking her perfectly good, delicious well water which has significant amounts of calcium, magnesium and other trace minerals. Four years later, she's never looked better!

[imthinkingthoughts]

I was recently on high dose Prednisolone for Crohn's disease. I was drinking loads of liquorice tea as I love it. During my taper I was experiencing loads of side effects. Turns out it might be because of my consumption of liquorice tea! Wow, there are truely levels to this. So fascinating

[zinareid]

My mother had a friend who snacked on black licorice all day and, yes, almost died. She was never the same mentally.

[Drj]

CONGRATULACION FOR YOUR BOOK IT'S AMAZING, THANK YOU 🎉🎉GREETINGS

[nazokashii]

Thank you so much for sharing and shining the light on this <3

[jmwhitt]

Careful of DGL supplements as well, can lower potassium

[BlissBlessHappiness]

The key question that such studies never answer is; what about people who are actually consuming naturally high potassium diets! This would have been the case in India and China before the industrial age (where they have used liquorice and studied its effects medically for millennia), let alone - people nowadays adopting naturally potassium rich diets (Whole food varied plant based diets with a focus on fruits and vegetables), people in these studies are almost unanimously on low potassium diets (fact).

[thebravespirit]

i was about to incorporate licorice tea to my diet for it's benifits on asthma, but watching this vid made me reconsider it
thank you sir, very helpful information

[naftalibendavid]

Wow! Didn’t know this stuff! Thank you.

[ceidrenv]

Does the topical licorice mentioned early in the video have these side effects?

[blue-fjky]

My mother took a few teaspoons a day of licorice powder over several weeks. She ended up in the intensive care ward. At first they thought she had lung cancer. Then they thought it was heart failure. Eventually they diagnosed as pericardial effusion but were baffled at the cause. They removed large volumes of brown fluid from around her heart. She survived. Barely!

This is an important video. Be very careful with licorice!

[heatherparis]

Thanks for this! Can you do your next video on the claims I've started seeing all over the internet (including one of the most popular podcasts in the world) that longterm use of vitamins renders them useless? As a 49-year-old vegan I've been taking B12, D3 and algae-based Omega 3 for several years now, and have been told it's necessary to continue taking them into my old age. I haven't been able to find any actual studies on this.

[rosecoon]

I was on the edge of my seat for 3 minutes impatiently waiting to comment about the potassium and blood pressure problems you spoke of in the last half of the video. Lol.

[zachcain]

Could this be a good natural supplement for people with too-low blood pressure?

[joniroylance]

I loved Black licorice since I was 5years old! Ate it whenever I coukd find it. Then a friend sent licorice from Australia! So good, soft and chewy…..but little did I know why my blood pressure was over200/90. No more licorice for me😢, ! When I recently looked for some…..all stores. NO longer had it…. All pulled off the shelves…. I then had Afib, and needed an operation as my heart went into crazy beats! Everything has been good since then, but I still crave licorice……but won’t ever eat it again😢.

[Alcooliques_sans_frontieres]

Licorice in the United States can be all kind of sweet stuff.. Most people do not mean the roots but some jelly-like sweet substance with anise type of flavor.
Careful with real licorice because over time it can increase your blood pressure.

[Viertelfranzose]

I use the Licorice extract powder (from Roots of Glycyrrhizia Glabra) with min. Standardized to 30% Glycyrrhizic Acid) since some month. Seems no effect on me till now..Perhaps someone have other effects 🤔Thank you very much for this interesting video and greetings from Andreas in Alsace /France