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posted by martyb on Tuesday October 31 2017, @11:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the Be-still-my-beating-heart!-Oh?-Wait... dept.

Trick or Treat: Don't Eat Too Much Black Licorice on Halloween, Warns FDA

It's that time of year again when ghoulish children turn up at your door, demanding payment in candy or threatening a sinister trick instead. But if you're keeping a bowl of sweets on stand-by, you might want to leave out the black licorice.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning ahead of Halloween—which it describes as the "biggest candy eating holiday of the year"—urging people not to overdo it on the medicinal-tasting candy or potentially face heart problems.

The problem is caused by glycyrrhizin—a sweetening compound derived from the root of licorice, a low-growing shrub that is found most in Greece, Turkey and Asia. When consumed in large amounts, glycyrrhizin can prompt potassium levels in the body to fall. Low potassium can lead to a variety of health issues, particularly abnormal heart rhythms, but also high blood pressure, swelling, lethargy, and even congestive heart failure.

The FDA warned that, for people 40 years old or over, eating two ounces of black licorice a day for two weeks can result in arrhythmia, or irregular heart rhythm. Potassium levels usually return to normal with no permanent health problems when a person stops eating it, according to the FDA's Linda Katz.

🎃💊 → 💀

Also at Business Insider.


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Ken_g6 on Wednesday November 01 2017, @12:39AM (4 children)

    by Ken_g6 (3706) on Wednesday November 01 2017, @12:39AM (#590298)

    So I guess if you're going to eat licorice, go bananas. They're high in potassium.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Ken_g6 on Wednesday November 01 2017, @12:42AM (1 child)

    by Ken_g6 (3706) on Wednesday November 01 2017, @12:42AM (#590302)

    Hey, the "🍌🍌🍌" emoji didn't show up in the title. ☹️ Even though they did in the preview.

    • (Score: 2) by TheLink on Wednesday November 01 2017, @08:19AM

      by TheLink (332) on Wednesday November 01 2017, @08:19AM (#590441) Journal
      You may need to use the html escape stuff: . e.g 🍫
  • (Score: 2) by TheLink on Wednesday November 01 2017, @08:15AM (1 child)

    by TheLink (332) on Wednesday November 01 2017, @08:15AM (#590440) Journal

    No no no. Do it right, eat high cocoa chocolate or potato chips. ;)

    70% cocoa chocolate, 722mg Potassium per 100g/605kcal:
    http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sweets/10638/2 [self.com]

    Potato chips, 1642 Potassium per 100g/547kcal
    http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/snacks/5627/2 [self.com]

    Bananas, 358mg Potassium per 100g/89kcal:
    http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1846/2 [self.com]

    Note that chocolate has 7x more calories though so potassium per calorie numbers aren't so good.

    But if you don't care about keeping with the candy theme and want to be healthy have a baked potato or broccoli instead:

    Baked potato 535mg potassium per 100g/93kcal:
    http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2770/2 [self.com]

    Bananas are overrated. The main thing going for them is convenience - no need to cook, just peel and eat. And the wrapping is biodegradable.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Aiwendil on Wednesday November 01 2017, @04:21PM

      by Aiwendil (531) on Wednesday November 01 2017, @04:21PM (#590626) Journal

      Potato chips (crisps) goes very well with liquorice (just pour a few bags of liquorice candy in the chips-bag, shake and pour into a bowl).

      Chocolate+liquorice is being sold premade (most wellknown brands are icelandic) if you look around.

      (Just in case anyone wonders if it is viable)