Licorice Affects Blood Pressure

I'm astonished that you gave this question any credence at all and even more taken aback that you posted a picture of candy along with your answer. You either misunderstood the reader's question or you really don't understand what licorice is. Licorice is the root of a leguminous plant and has almost nothing to do with the candy of the same name. There is no such thing (in nature) as either red or black licorice; these are purely confectionary inventions.

What you are eating when you have the candy called licorice is corn syrup and food coloring. That's where any health danger lies. There is barely any extract of licorice in these products, if any at all, because the flavor is usually provided by adding aniseseed extract. Your photo that accompanies this question is of licorice allsorts or licorice whips - a far cry from the natural plant. Please see this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licorice

Answer to question is correct! Red licorice IS totally safe because it is flavored with anise oil instead of licorice extract which contains glycyrrizinic acid and glycyrrhetinic acid which are use to flavor BLACK licorice (anise oil is also sometimes used). The culprits, glycyrrhizinic acid and glycyrrhetinic acid ARE mentioned in the Wikipedia article so referenced by "astonished" Dean W in his 8-10-08 posting. Licorice extract can cause Pseudoaldosteronism. It inhibits the enzyme 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, which converts cortisol to cortisone. Cortisol binds to the aldosterone receptors in the kidney and mimics aldosterone which causes water and sodium retention along with loss of potassium leading to increased bloodpressure and hypokalemia which in turn lead to cardiac arrhythmias.

Oh dear so I better stop eating a 200g roll every week then!!!!

I am stunned Dean would post his misinformation. Even Hershey's website has the correct information about licorice products.

Steph if your eating that much you might want to look at why.

I had some loose leaf tea which contained licorice root, didn't only take one mug but two. Yep, the blood pressure hit the roof and I knew as soon as I felt rotten what I had done. For me I need to really avoid licorice for the blood pressure reason. What concerns me is that no doctor has ever told me this.

Did your blood pressure level go down? After how long?

Well jeez, that's good to know now! I had pre-eclampsia that came from nowhere. I have always had low blood pressure, never higher than 106/64, 128/68 during most of my pregnancy, then it shot up to 210/110.

Now that I look back, I see it coincided directly with my sudden craving for Dutch (real) black licorice. I ate pounds of that stuff. No one ever told me that could have been the cause. And after I had my son, I drank black licorice tea, and my blood pressure stayed through the roof. They told me it'd go down, but it didn't for months. Just now I realized I haven't been eating any black licorice since my blood pressure went back to normal. I never noticed the connection due to my pregnancy-hormone-addled brain. They should have to warn people when the products contain licorice root, and not merely anise.

The Problem is not with the packaged licorice that we are used to. It is the licorice that is made with licorice root, the kind you get in a specialty candy store. My wife was rushed to the hospital with what they said was a mini stroke. She first became dizzy, then she became slow of speech, then lost control of her arm and neck. After being released from the hospital and seeing several doctors and specialists, they said it was a migraine headache (even though she did not have a headache at the time), because the symptoms came one after the other and not all at once like a stroke.

She was put on many different drugs, none of which helped the problem. For about 3 weeks prior to the first so called "mini stroke" and all during the other 5 attacks, she had been eating black licorice imported from Australia, and not in excess, about 3 to 5 pieces a day. One day while looking for a recipe for black licorice (because she was so fond of it) I discovered that it could cause sudden spikes in your blood pressure and low potassium levels, (she had also been suffering from leg cramps).

She stopped eating the licorice and never had another attack. She is not taking any of the drugs the doctors gave her, she only stopped the licorice. We are sure that it was the licorice that cause these attacks.

I was trying to determine whether red licorice was a health risk as is black licorice; so was interested in some of these coments.

About twelve years ago, I experienced symptoms similar to stroke. I was taken to the hospital and studied for five days by specialists. The symptoms quickly resolved and have never reocurred. They finally diagnosed me as having atypical migraine. I never have headaches, although after that point in time have had auras - kaleidoscope lights. Licorice has never a suspect, even to this day. I continued to eat black licorice until recently when I made a firm commitment to discontinue it because of my hypertension. It'a too early to say for sure, but my frequent and excruciating leg cramping (all muscles - ankle, lateral, front of lower leg, etc) has seemed to have lessened.

Also, I was admitted to the hospital in 2/10 with what they thought was rhabdomyolysis, mainly based on a CPK of about 10,000 - 12,000. It was decided that I was one of the 1% of individuals reacting to Zocor, which I had been on for several years without problems. I noted in my research that black licorice can cause this condition. I am now wondering if it was the licorice rather than the Zocor that created this problem. I ate an excessive amount of black licorice continuously. I remained in the hospital until they flushed the Zocor from my system. I have now been started on Crestor, but only taking 5mg per week to observe my reaction. My CPK is normal and I continue to avoid black licorice.

If taking licorice root has caused my blood pressure to be high, how long can I expect to wait after discontinuing it for my blood pressure to go down? How long will it stay in my system and cause high blood pressure?

3 weeks ago I was diagnosed with High blood pressure - 225/119!
After taking 95grms of betaloc for 2 weeks, my blood pressure was 187/90.

I LOVE licorice and eat 4-6 'twists' per day. After reading about its effect on BP I haven't had any for 2 days. Today my BP was 170/90.

Symptoms are - top/forehead of my head feels 'thick / heavy and a racing heart.
My pulse seems pretty stable at around 60 - 64.

Prior to this discovery my BP has always been normal.
I am 5 ft 2inches, weigh 55 kg and have a BMI of 23.
I do zumba 4 or 5 times a week, rocknroll 1 - 2 times a week.

I eat 7 - 10 vegetables and fruit per day, always have home prepared fresh foods, rarely eat out but do enjoy a glass of white wine in the evening. I haven't smoked for 31 years and consider myself pretty healthy and fit for someone who has just turned 60 in October.

There is no history of heart troubles in my family so I am perplexed as to why my BP is suddenly dangerously high.

I have been taking licorice powder for 2 years and it has really helped me for hyper-acidity and migraine. I am going through menopause and my BP is raised to 90/150. I never had high BP before and I also feel swelling in my body. Is this all due to licorice?

PEOPLE'S PHARMACY RESPONSE: LICORICE CAN CAUSE FLUID RETENTION (SWELLING) AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE. WE SUGGEST TAKING IT ONLY SHORT TERM UNDER SUPERVISION FROM A PROFESSIONAL FAMILIAR WITH ITS USE.

how are people to know whether red or black licorice is used in a blend with other ingredients in various supplements? I purchase supplements at times only to realize later that the product contains licorice?

PEOPLE'S PHARMACY RESPONSE: RED AND BLACK ARE COLORS OF LICORICE CANDY. RED NEVER CONTAINS ACTUAL LICORICE, DESPITE THE NAME; BLACK "LICORICE" CANDY MAY OR MAY NOT CONTAIN LICORICE FOR FLAVORING.

LICORICE IN SUPPLEMENTS SHOULD ALWAYS BE LISTED ON THE LABEL.

I love the red and black licorice candy... its ingredients include licorice EXTRACT among other things... I have high blood pressure and I take medication for that... should I not be eating this candy? can it raise my B/P?

As a person who has gone through angioplasty and battled high blood pressure for an extended period I am always amazed at "expert" sounding opinions that quite often are not based on proper research. While it is true that red "licorice" may not contain any actual licorice extract, some do. I recently bought a bag of soft Australian red flavoured with Blueberry and Pomegranate. After eating the bag over a two week period, I decided to read the small print and was surprised to find licorice listed as an ingredient.

It is also true that some black licorice contains no actual licorice extract. Both anise and fennel will produce a licorice like flavour but to determine exactly which products contain flavouring other than actual licorice is not easy.

As a former "licorice freak", I am always searching for a safe alternative and so far all I have discovered is that producers are very reluctant to disclose exactly what they use for flavouring. One thing is sure though and that is European products such as Dutch salted licorice and cough suppressants such as Fisherman's Friend are extremely high in licorice extract.