Licorice, an apparently harmless plant that has been consumed since ancient Rome, is under fire after the French Agency for Food Safety and Health (ANSES) has issued a warning about its toxicity. The organism affirms that consuming it in large quantities can cause serious and even fatal poisoning.
This information, echoed by the Catalan Agency for Food Safety, is published after the ANSES has registered several cases of poisoning in relation to the consumption of licorice from 2012 to 2021. For this reason, they ask the public to only take it occasionally and in moderation.
This notice not only refers to the popular licorice candies, but also to products that contain it, such as ice creams, syrups, infusions and alcoholic beverages. The food industry uses it for its glycyrrhizin content, a compound with great sweetening power that is present in the roots of the plant.
And why are they issuing this warning now? After carrying out a study, the French agency has observed that 64 people have suffered poisoning after consuming licorice-based drinks or food between 2012 and 2021.
In 42% of cases, they developed serious and even life-threatening symptoms, such as high blood pressure or heart problems, they point out on their website. One of these people passed away, but was already suffering from severe liver damage.
The aforementioned symptoms can be experienced by healthy subjects who have never had high blood pressure if they consume licorice in large quantities and regularly. In addition, there are some medications that enhance the toxicity of this food.
The problem is that it's hard to tell when you're eating too much licorice. Their presence is often reported on the food label, but the maximum recommended daily amount is not always indicated.
The ANSES recommends not taking more than 10 mg of glycyrrhizin per day, "being careful not to multiply the sources of intake through food, medication and tobacco." And he advises that the intake of licorice be low and occasional.
In Spain, it is mandatory to indicate the presence of licorice on food labeling if it exceeds 100 mg/Kg or 10 mg/l since 2005. And if the concentration, in the case of sweets, is greater than or equal to 4 g /Kg, the message "Contains licorice: people with hypertension should avoid excessive consumption". Same with drinks.
However, since ANSES issued this warning at the end of March, the Spanish Agency for Food Safety has not commented on it.
