In enough quantities , fateful licorice can kill you .   Yes , the favorite   sweet of grandparents everywhere   must be corrode in moderation if you want to obviate   thethankfully quite rarecomplication of being glaze to decease .

About three week prior to his bosom attack , he had switched from red licorice to black licorice , which turned out to be the cause of his problem .

Black licorice take glycyrrhizic acid , which can make changes to potassium levels , disrupt electrolyte , and increase stage of cortisol . This can lead to   high blood pressure , hypokalemia , metabolic alkalosis , disastrous arrhythmias , and nephritic failure , all of which was seen in the patient role .

" Glycyrrhizin ( also call glycyrrhizic acid ) is the chemical in fateful Glycyrrhiza glabra that gives the confect its signature flavor , but it also leads to its toxic effects , "   Professor of Pharmacology & ToxicologyBill Sullivanwrote ina piece for The Conversation .

" Glycyrrhizin mime the endocrine aldosterone , which is made by the adrenal gland when the torso needs to keep on sodium and excrete K . Sodium and potassium work together as a kind of cellular battery that drives communicating between nerves and the muscle contraction of muscles . "

fit in to theUS Food and Drug Administration(FDA ) , for the great unwashed over 40 , corrode just 56 grams ( 2 oz. ) of bleak licorice   daily for at least two weeks could land you in the infirmary with irregular pump regular recurrence .

If you insist on eating liquorice , be assure that this man ’s consumption was excessive , and you are extremely unlikely to consume enough to cause your own ill health . However , that ’s not to say it ’s risk - innocent .

“ Even a small amount of licorice you eat can increase your blood pressure sensation a little piece , ” Dr Neel Butala , a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospitaltold Associated Press , follow the human race ’s decease .

untoward reactions are more likely in people over 40 , and the length of prison term and volume of liquorice you eat all play their part in what your reaction to calamitous licorice will be . One 50 - class - old fair sex take care hermuscles break downafter   " deplete one and a half bags of black liquorice bites containing 2 % born Glycyrrhiza glabra during the past 3 weeks " .

To complicate things further , there are licorice mathematical product out there that do not contain glycyrrhizin , make them safer to eat than their authentic competitors . Check the label for fixings , should you be planning on eat an excessive amount of licorice and want to stay dependable .