Man Dies From Eating Too Much Black Licorice, What Is Glycyrrhizic Acid?

[Judi Lynn]

Sep 24, 2020,12:36am EDT

Bruce Y. Lee
Senior Contributor

Black licorice is like Rebecca Black’s song "Friday" or Justin Bieber’s "Baby." You tend to either love it or hate it. There’s no middle ground.

But if you somehow think black licorice is to die for, be careful. That’s literally what could happen if you eat too much of this stuff. Case in point, the most recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine included a case study of a 54-year-old man who had a sudden cardiac arrest and died after eating one to two packages of black licorice a day.

The words “good diet” and “two large packages of black licorice” typically don’t go together unless there is the word “besides” in between. That’s probably true with most types of candy. As a team from the Massachusetts General Hospital (Elazer R. Edelman, M.D., Ph.D., Neel M. Butala, M.D., M.B.A., Laura L. Avery, M.D., Andrew L. Lundquist, M.D., Ph.D., and Anand S. Dighe, M.D., Ph.D) described in the case report, the man had regularly eaten up to a couple large packages of fruit-flavored soft candy daily before switching to black licorice. Now, this wasn’t red licorice but instead was the kind that has glycyrrhizic acid. Once black licorice gets into your body (usually by way of you mouth), your body can convert glycyrrhizic acid into the equally difficult to pronounce glycyrrhetinic acid.

Three weeks into his new licorice diet, the man was in a fast-food restaurant when he suddenly started shaking and lost consciousness. Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) arrived at the scene after about four minutes and found that man was suffering from ventricular fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm that leaves the heart quivering and unable to effectively pump blood. That obviously was an emergency and a life-threatening situation.

More:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/09/24/man-dies-from-eating-too-much-black-licorice-what-is-glycyrrhizic-acid/#e71e9f549b97

[tblue37]

1. Fascinating. K&R. nt

[yonder]

2. Damn. Sorry for his family's sudden loss.

No problem here though, can't stand it.

[Cicada]

3. In 1973 I was advised to eat black licorice to raise blood pressure for draft physical

I had blood pressure 140/90 in a physical at my doctors office, the exact minimum level to be ineligible for the draft. I was rejected for high blood pressure at my draft physical. I did not follow this advice but I was told by someone advising me on avoiding the draft”there is nothing wrong with eating black licorice the night before your physical.”

I still have high blood pressure but drugs recently prescribed keep it lower than 140/90.

There should be a warning on the package of black licorice.

[NNadir]

4. This is somewhat unsurprising as digoxin is also a steroidal glycoside.

Steriodal glycosides are generally toxicants which evolved to reduce their value as foods. This is apparently the case with the roots of Glycyrrhiza glabra, the plant from which licorice is obtained.

The issues in toxicology have apparently been known for some time, and in some cultures, ethnobotanists have noted the use of licorice as a herbal medicine.

It's interesting. I never knew any of this.

[ihas2stinkyfeet]

5. uh oh.

i have that 'loves bitter' gene. served me well as i kid. i got all the black licorice, and the dark chocolate covered citrus peel from the big boxes of fannie may my aunt used to bring us.

in fact my first kiss was plied by licorice.
and all day ipa is my fave beer.

[lettucebe]

6. Anyone sending black licorice to the WH?

Just curious