Posted on 03/26/2009 5:30:13 PM PDT by neverdem
Extract led to more or less absorption in rats, depending on the drug
SALT LAKE CITY — Licorice has long been used as a good treatment for plenty of ills, but the compound that gives the extract its healing powers may also interfere with certain drugs, suggests new research in rats. The findings, presented March 24 at a meeting of the American Chemical Society, suggest that some patients should hold off from sweets made with the plant extract.
Glycyrrhizin, the active compound in licorice, is a major constituent found in the roots of Glycyrrhiza species, a group of plants in the pea family. The extract has a long history of medicinal use in Europe and Asia, and as a flavoring for sweets (though some licorice candies, including Good & Plentys, are flavored with a combination of licorice and anise, an extract from an unrelated plant, or anise alone). In Asia, “It’s used more as a drug, not as a candy,” says Pei-Dawn Lee Chao of the China Medical University in Taichung, Taiwan.
Scientists are also exploring how glycyrrhizin, heralded for its bioactive properties, interacts with therapeutic drugs. Led by Chao, researchers fed rats cyclosporine, a drug that suppresses the body’s immune response and is often taken by transplant patients. The team also gave the rats various concentrations of pure glycyrrhizin and licorice extract. The researchers found that levels of cyclosporine in the rats’ blood dropped considerably in rats fed licorice or pure glycyrrhizin...
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
THAT’S why you’re supposed to use DE-glycrrhized Licorice....DGL....sheesh....
My blood pressure meds come with a warning to not eat natural licorice and has for many years. I didn’t know there was natural and artifical until then.
What’s the relationship to alcohol, increase or decrease of absorption?
Wonder if that happened to obama?
Oh.....Ugh........Ugh.....they meant LEGAL drugs.
Ethanol itself is a good solvent, but in your gut it's probably acts more like a minor solute in an aqueous suspension with your food and drink. All drug - drug or drug - food interactions have to be evaluated on a case by case basis, e.g. you can't drink grapefruit juice with some drugs, some oral drugs for type II diabetes will produce a bad reaction if someone drinks ethanol, etc.
That’s OK, I hate the crap.
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