The analysis, revealed in The American Journal of Scientific Diet and funded by Linköping College, famous the numerous suppression of renin and aldosterone in addition to an impression on blood strain following intakes of glycyrrhizinic acid (GA) contained in licorice.
“We discovered licorice to be stronger than beforehand recognized, with important will increase in BP, after a day by day consumption of solely 100 mg of GA,” the researchers wrote. “Thus, the protected restrict of consumption of this substance would possibly should be reconsidered.”
“These results haven’t beforehand been demonstrated for such average quantities of day by day consumption of licorice, which is throughout the vary that has been considered ‘in all probability protected’ 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, on account of issues going again to not less than the Nineties, and located that beneath 100 mg there can be restricted issues,” he advised NutraIngredients.
“On this sense, the priority shouldn’t be new. Nevertheless, the 100 mg restrict was based mostly on modelling of information, and the brand new examine could counsel decrease limits for optimum day by day dose and/or warnings. However, given the uncommon use of licorice in meals dietary supplements, the general well being impression is more likely to be low, although it’s important for hypertensive shoppers 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 drugs and flavouring agent. But, regardless of beforehand recognized well being advantages, together with anti-inflammatory actions and respiratory well being assist, consumption of the GA compound has been related to a raised blood strain (BP). The mechanisms underlying this impact are but to be understood.
Protected intakes beneficial by the European Union and the World Well being Group (WHO) are specified as as much as 100 mg GA a day. Nevertheless, the Swedish Meals Company has noticed that the highest 5% of shoppers have day by day intakes above this restrict.
As a result of randomised managed trials into the consequences of entire candy licorice on BP are missing and conclusions relating to the protection of consuming 100 mg of GA for BP ranges are nonetheless pending, the current examine sought to evaluate the consequences of day by day candy licorice intakes on BP readings and hormonal ranges.
Examine particulars
The researchers recruited 28 wholesome contributors with a mean 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 additional 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 day by 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 strain was measured day by day and blood samples taken after every two-week interval.
The researchers noticed important will increase within the systolic house BP through the licorice intervention interval when in comparison with measurements within the management interval. BP readings have been discovered to indicate 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 through 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 through the intervention when in comparison with the management.
“The outcomes point out that licorice is a stronger substance than beforehand recognized and that ranges suggested as ‘in all probability protected’ by the WHO and the European Union is under no circumstances innoxious when examined in a randomized managed setting with house 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 subject. In the meantime, we recommend a extra stringent warning labelling on GA containing confectionery,” they added.
Supply: The American Journal of Scientific Diet
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.01.011
“A low dose of day by day licorice consumption impacts renin, aldosterone, and residential blood strain in a randomized crossover trial”
Authors: Peder Af Geijerstam
