Excessive Amounts Of Candy Licorice Linked To Seizure

New findings published in the journal Pediatric Neurology show that eating too much licorice could be dangerous for your health. The study is based on a 10-year-old boy who suffered from a seizure after he consumed licorice candy. 

Dr. Davide Tassinari and other health officials from the Uniersity of Balogna, Italy, reported that the adolescent boy was rushed to the hospital after suffering from a tonic-clonic seizure for 2 minutes. This type is what most people think of when they hear the word "seizure." An older term for them is "grand mal." During this time, a person loses consciousness and may be unable to breathe and could also vomit and lose control of certain bodily functions.

While at the hospital, he suffered a cluster of three other generalized seizures during the first few hours of while being sent to the hospital. He also suffered headaches and high blood pressure.

Doctors are still uncertain why this happened. However, they did notice that he had black teeth during his medical examination a week later. Further investigation revealed that he had been eating at least 20 licorice candies a day for four months.

Researchers think that 2.88 mg/kg of glycyrrhizic acid (one of the active ingredients of licorice) a day, which was 0.88mg/kg more than World Health Organization recommendations.

The boy has quit eating licorice since, and within just two weeks, the swelling in his brain has subsided. Excessive consumption of glycyrrhizic acid led to the boy's hypertension and posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome.

Health officials are hoping that since this case, it will be mandatory that candy makers put a warning label on licorice packaging.

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