The analysis, printed in The American Journal of Scientific Vitamin and funded by Linköping College, famous the numerous suppression of renin and aldosterone in addition to an influence on blood stress following intakes of glycyrrhizinic acid (GA) contained in licorice.
“We discovered licorice to be stronger than beforehand identified, with vital will increase in BP, after a each day consumption of solely 100 mg of GA,” the researchers wrote. “Thus, the secure restrict of consumption of this substance would possibly have to be reconsidered.”
“These results haven’t beforehand been demonstrated for such reasonable quantities of each day consumption of licorice, which is throughout the vary that has been considered ‘in all probability secure’ for most people,” they added.
Luca Bucchini, managing director at Hylobates Consulting, defined that earlier security investigations into licorice have resulted in some EU Member States, equivalent to France and Belgium, selecting to set a restrict of 100 mg for meals dietary supplements.
“Certainly, the EU assessed glycyrrhizinic acid from licorice in 2003, attributable to considerations going again to at the least the Nineties, and located that under 100 mg there could be restricted considerations,” he informed NutraIngredients.
“On this sense, the priority is just not new. Nonetheless, the 100 mg restrict was based mostly on modelling of information, and the brand new examine might counsel decrease limits for max each day dose and/or warnings. However, given the uncommon use of licorice in meals dietary supplements, the general well being influence is more likely to be low, although it is crucial for hypertensive customers to restrict consumption of licorice from any supply.”
Legal guidelines on licorice
Licorice is extracted from the Glycyrrhiza species and has been traditionally used as a natural medication and flavouring agent. But, regardless of beforehand recognized well being advantages, together with anti-inflammatory actions and respiratory well being help, consumption of the GA compound has been related to a raised blood stress (BP). The mechanisms underlying this impact are but to be understood.
Secure intakes beneficial by the European Union and the World Well being Group (WHO) are specified as as much as 100 mg GA a day. Nonetheless, the Swedish Meals Company has noticed that the highest 5% of customers have each day intakes above this restrict.
As a result of randomised managed trials into the results of complete candy licorice on BP are missing and conclusions concerning the protection of consuming 100 mg of GA for BP ranges are nonetheless pending, the current examine sought to evaluate the results of each day candy licorice intakes on BP readings and hormonal ranges.
Research particulars
The researchers recruited 28 wholesome contributors with a median age of 24 years. The examine used a two-treatment, two-period, two-sequence (2×2) randomized crossover design, with contributors both beginning with a licorice or a management product. The primary block consisted of a 1-week run-in, adopted by the 2-week licorice intervention, a 2-week washout, a 2-week management interval and an extra 2-week washout interval. The second block reversed the sequence of 2-week durations.
Intervention durations concerned the administration of 14.5 candy licorice pastilles each day (produced by Nature Med S.r.l., Cosenza, Italy), equal to three.3 g of licorice and 100 mg of GA. At-home blood stress was measured each day and blood samples taken after every two-week interval.
The researchers noticed vital will increase within the systolic residence BP throughout the licorice intervention interval when in comparison with measurements within the management interval. BP readings have been discovered to point out will increase from day 5, and continued numerical will increase have been famous till day 14.
As well as, renin and aldosterone have been discovered to be suppressed throughout the licorice intervention. In contributors displaying probably the most marked reductions of renin and aldosterone, N-terminal prohormone of mind natriuretic peptide (NT-ProBNP) was additionally discovered to be elevated throughout the intervention when in comparison with the management.
“The outcomes point out that licorice is a stronger substance than beforehand identified and that ranges suggested as ‘in all probability secure’ by the WHO and the European Union is in no way innoxious when examined in a randomized managed setting with residence BP recordings,” the researchers concluded.
“It’s probably that different delicate subsets, equivalent to individuals with hypertension or renal insufficiency, would have even stronger results of GA, therefore we urge for additional research on this matter. In the meantime, we advise a extra stringent warning labelling on GA containing confectionery,” they added.
Supply: The American Journal of Scientific Vitamin
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.01.011
“A low dose of each day licorice consumption impacts renin, aldosterone, and residential blood stress in a randomized crossover trial”
Authors: Peder Af Geijerstam
