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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.
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Also at Business Insider.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2017, @12:43AM (3 children)
I ate a 1lb bag of black licorice got liquid black explosive diarrhea which reeks of something dead and rotting.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2017, @01:35PM (1 child)
You should do it more often. Licorice is a laxative, but the foul dead rotting smell is all the other shit stuck up your arse. Eat more licorice and clean it out occaisionally.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 02 2017, @07:34AM
Colon cleansing is pseudoscience.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2017, @01:56PM
The licorice killed an inner demon. Congratulations! You should continue to eat it until all your demons are gone. You have taken your first step towards goodness.