Good question
Good question! In this section PlusOnline goes in search of answers to nagging questions. This time: does eating licorice raise your blood pressure?
Are you a liquorice lover and do you suffer from high blood pressure? Unfortunately, it is better to eat something else: people who have high blood pressure (hypertension) are indeed advised not to eat licorice. If you eat a lot of licorice regularly, it can raise your blood pressure. It does not matter whether you eat sweet or salty licorice, because the culprit is the substance glycyrrhizin that occurs in all types of licorice.
Glycyrrhizin: licorice flavor
The substance glycyrrhizin provides the typical licorice taste. According to Marianne Geleijnse, professor of nutrition and cardiovascular disease at Wageningen UR, the taste comes from an extract from licorice root. ‘It contains glycyrrhizin. Your body converts this into glycyrrhetinic acid, which temporarily changes kidney function so that your body retains more fluid. And the more fluid, the more blood volume, so the blood pressure rises.’
Anyone who thought that salty licorice is even worse for blood pressure is wrong. Because licorice root gives a sweet taste, there is more of that extract in sweet than in salty licorice. So your blood pressure rises slightly faster from sweet licorice.
Five drops a day
If you are now afraid that you will never be able to eat a licorice again, rest assured. Geleijnse says that it is best to stay under 10 milligrams of glycyrrhetinic acid per day, which corresponds to about five drops. Snacking on a bag of licorice every now and then should also be possible. According to her, it becomes a problem if you eat licorice all day long, because you walk around all day with high blood pressure. You run a higher risk of chronically elevated blood pressure, which increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Normal blood pressure (in people up to 80 years old) is between 100 and 140. If it is higher than 140, you have high blood pressure. Licorice can only increase pressure by a few percent, so be especially careful with licorice if you already have high blood pressure.
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