Eating a lot of black licorice candies can be fatal

According to a report published in the “New England Journal of Medicine”, a 54-year-old man had a sudden shortness of breath in a fast food restaurant, shivered and lost consciousness.

Emergency medical personnel discovered that the man had ventricular fibrillation, a serious life-threatening heart rhythm problem. The man underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation and regained consciousness briefly before being taken to the hospital.

After the doctor asked the family members, he learned that the patient’s diet was poor. He ate one or two large packets of gummies every day and seldom ate other foods. According to the Associated Press, a few weeks ago, the man’s diet changed from eating fruit-flavored red candies to black licorice candies.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), black licorice usually contains a compound called glycyrrhizin-extracted from licorice root.

Eating too much licorice root or candies flavored with licorice root can be dangerous because glycyrrhizin can lower the body's potassium levels. Low blood potassium levels can cause heart rhythm problems and induce cardiovascular disease.

The doctor took potassium supplement therapy for him, and arranged various auxiliary medical methods in the intensive care unit, including ventilator. Despite many efforts, the patient died after 32 hours.

Although death is an "extreme event", eating only 2 ounces of black licorice a day for 2 weeks may cause heart rhythm problems especially for people who are 40 years and older.

According to Live Science, in 2019, researchers reported a case of an 84-year-old man in Canada whose habit of drinking a few cups of homemade licorice tea a day caused his blood pressure to soar to dangerous levels.

The FDA considers glycyrrhizin to be a restricted additive, but recommends that people avoid eating too much at once. It is also worth noting that according to the

FDA, many "licorice" or "licorice-flavored" products made in the United States actually do not contain any licorice ingredients, but are flavored with fennel oil, with the same smell and taste, but does not contain Glycyrrhizin.