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   Drugs and Chemicals /  L   Licorice (Glycyrrhiza, Glycocome, Sweet Root)

A genus of leguminous herbs or shrubs whose roots yield Glycyrrhetinic acid and its derivatives, Carbenoxolone for example. Licorice toxicity is manifested as hypokalemia, low blood potassium. Licorice is used as flavoring and aromatic in pharmaceuticals and as candy.




  • Glycyrrhetinic Acid
    An oleanolic acid from Glycyrrhiza that has some antiallergic, antibacterial, and antiviral properties. It is used topically for allergic or infectious skin inflammation and orally for its aldosterone effects in electrolyte regulation.
  • Carbenoxolone
    An agent derived from licorice root. It is used for the treatment of digestive tract ulcers, especially in the stomach. Antidiuretic side effects are frequent, but otherwise the drug is low in toxicity.

Articles


A drug over the millennia: pharmacognosy, chemistry, and pharmacology of licorice
Licorice, the root of Glycyrrhiza spp. (Fabaceae), has been used since ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman times in the West and since the Former Han era (the 2nd-3rd century B.C.) in ancient China in the East. In traditional Chinese medicine, licorice is one of the most frequently used drugs. In Japan, the oldest specimen of licorice introduced from China in the middle of the 8th century still exists in Shosoin, the Imperial Storehouse, in Nara. Extracts of licorice were recommended as a remedy for gastric ulcer by Revers of the Netherlands in 1946, which was soon withdrawn owing to its side effects.
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Licorice and Cancer
Licorice root is one of the oldest and most frequently employed botanicals in Chinese medicine. In the United States, licorice products are most often used as flavoring and sweetening agents in food products. Constituents of licorice include triterpenoids, such as glycyrrhizin and its aglycone glycyrrhizic acid, various polyphenols, and polysaccharides. A number of pharmaceutical effects of licorice are known or suspected (anti-inflammatory, antivirus, antiulcer, anticarcinogenesis, and others).
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Unsafe and potentially safe herbal therapies
The use of herbal therapies is on the rise in the United States, but most pharmacists are not adequately prepared educationally to meet patients' requests for information on herbal products. Pharmacists must also cope with an environment in which there is relatively little regulation of herbal therapies by FDA. Many herbs have been identified as unsafe, including borage, calamus, coltsfoot, comfrey, life root, sassafras, chaparral, germander, licorice, and ma huang.
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Position of The American Dietetic Association: Phytochemicals and functional foods
Phytochemicals and/or health-preserving elements are present in a number of frequently consumed foods, especially fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and seeds, and in a number of less frequently consumed foods such as licorice, soy, and green tea. In addition, functional foods, which are defined as any modified food or food ingredient that may provide a health benefit beyond the traditional nutrients it contains, are being developed and subjected to scientific evaluation.
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Health promoting properties of common herbs
Herbs have been used as food and for medicinal purposes for centuries. Research interest has focused on various herbs that possess hypolipidemic, antiplatelet, antitumor, or immune-stimulating properties that may be useful adjuncts in helping reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. In different herbs, a wide variety of active phytochemicals, including the flavonoids, terpenoids, lignans, sulfides, polyphenolics, carotenoids, coumarins, saponins, plant sterols, curcumins, and phthalides have been identified.
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Over the Counter 20 Aug 2008

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Categorization derived from National Library of Medicine.
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