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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 Snotnose on Thursday November 02 2017, @12:09AM (1 child)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Thursday November 02 2017, @12:09AM (#590809)

    Yeah, but you're sub-zero a third of the year. I'd rather wear shorts and hawaiian shirts year long and deal with Sacramento trying to screw me out of more money than usual.

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
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  • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Thursday November 02 2017, @11:32AM

    by fyngyrz (6567) on Thursday November 02 2017, @11:32AM (#590963) Journal

    This is true. :)