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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: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday November 01 2017, @04:41AM (2 children)

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Wednesday November 01 2017, @04:41AM (#590377) Journal

    > I know the system the US uses is dumb but it is not that dumb.

    Yes it is that dumberer. Quite common to see ingredients given in the fun unit of mg per ounce. Is 75mg of sodium per 28g (1 oz) a lot of sodium, or not?

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  • (Score: 2) by Absolutely.Geek on Wednesday November 01 2017, @06:58PM (1 child)

    by Absolutely.Geek (5328) on Wednesday November 01 2017, @06:58PM (#590734)

    Wow as a citizen of a country that uses rational units; this just makes me laugh. But 75mg per 28g unit is pretty close to 3/1000 so not too bad on the mental calc scale.

    --
    Don't trust the police or the government - Shihad: My mind's sedate.
    • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Thursday November 02 2017, @04:03PM

      by bzipitidoo (4388) on Thursday November 02 2017, @04:03PM (#591109) Journal

      I should also mention that there are actually several kinds of ounces. There are 2 in common use that are measures of mass, at 28g (actually 28.35g but on food labels it's always rounded down to 28g), and the troy ounce at 31.1g, and the other commonly used one is a measure of volume, the fluid ounce, 1/128th of a gallon, about 28ml which is of course 28g if the substance is liquid water at 4 degrees C. Naturally, there isn't just one fluid ounce either, and while close, none of them quite agree with the volume that 28.35g of water takes at 4C.

      Yeah, it's a mess, one that's peculiar to the US. Every place has their own oddball messes.