Glycyrrhiza glabra
Licorice Extract
The one ingredient here with a firm ceiling. Read this page before you double a dose.
Evidence grade: The clearest safety limit on this label.
What It Is
Licorice root has been used in food and traditional medicine for centuries, and it is also the ingredient on this label with the best-documented ceiling. Both of those things are true at once, which is why it has the longest caution section here.
The compound responsible is glycyrrhizin, which is what makes licorice taste sweet — considerably sweeter than sugar by weight.
What It Is Doing Here
Three points, written without the marketing vocabulary.
Studied for glucose and inflammation
Licorice flavonoids have been examined for effects on glucose handling and on inflammatory pathways. The work is mostly preclinical and the human evidence is limited.
Traditionally a digestive remedy
Its longest record of use is for digestive complaints rather than for blood sugar, and deglycyrrhizinated forms exist precisely for that purpose.
And here is the ceiling
Glycyrrhizin inhibits an enzyme that normally protects the mineralocorticoid receptor. The result is sodium and water retention, potassium loss and rising blood pressure. This is dose dependent and it builds over weeks.
The Dose Question
Case reports of significant effects usually involve sustained daily intakes of licorice confectionery or strong tea over weeks, not a fraction of a small blend taken once a day.
The reason this page states it so plainly anyway is that people double doses. Doubling a dose-dependent effect is exactly the wrong instinct, and licorice is the ingredient that makes 'never take two droppers' a genuine instruction rather than boilerplate.
Where Else You Would Meet It
| Source | Typical amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Licorice confectionery | Real licorice | The usual source in case reports |
| Licorice tea | Strong or frequent | Also implicated when taken daily for weeks |
| Anise-flavoured sweets | Not licorice | Flavour without glycyrrhizin |
| DGL supplements | Deglycyrrhizinated | Glycyrrhizin removed for this reason |
| Some herbal blends | Common addition | Used widely as a sweetener and harmoniser |
| This product | Blend component | Amount not individually declared |
Cautions Worth Knowing
Speak to a doctor before taking this product if you are treated for high blood pressure, take a diuretic, have heart disease or kidney disease, or have been told your potassium runs low. Those are the situations where glycyrrhizin matters most.
Signs worth acting on include unusual muscle weakness, swelling in the ankles, persistent headache and a noticeable rise in blood pressure readings. Any of those is a reason to stop and speak to somebody rather than push on.
Further reading: the licorice ceiling and what sublingual actually does. General information about a nutritional ingredient, not medical advice. See the health notice.
Licorice Extract Questions
What we are asked about this line of the label specifically.
Is the licorice here dangerous?
At one dropper a day, at a small share of a 200 mg blend, it is unlikely to matter for a healthy adult. The caution exists because the effect is dose dependent and because people double doses.
What if I already have high blood pressure?
Speak to your doctor before starting. This is the clearest single conversation to have about this product.
Would DGL avoid the problem?
Deglycyrrhizinated licorice removes the compound responsible, which is why it exists. The label on this product does not specify a DGL form.
How long would an effect take to appear?
Weeks rather than days, because it accumulates. That is also why stopping resolves it in most reported cases.