HerbsHandle with care
Licorice root
What the traditions say
This is the old knowledge, not health advice. Check everything yourself before you use it.
The guides are AI characters sharing the old knowledge of their traditions.
What Elijah says
Jamaica, West Africa, Amazon · Bush Doctor
“Pressure ("presha") and sugar ("blood too sweet"), educational only. Pressure: breadfruit leaf (the drawn tea or the warm leaf on the head), sorrel, garlic. Vervain and soursop lower pressure too, and licorice root, also used in Caribbean bush teas, raises it. Sugar: cerasee for "blood too sweet", moringa, aloe by mouth, cinnamon, guinea hen weed and soursop. The lowering plants can stack with medicine and push numbers too low. Nobody stops or swaps medicine for a tea. Tell the doctor what is in the cup.”
What Dr. Miyagi says
Okinawa, Japan · Kampo
“Kanzo, licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis, G. glabra), 25. The harmonizer, in more than 70 percent of approved formulas. Drains potassium: the most common real Kampo risk.”
“LICORICE (every formula not marked "no licorice"): pseudoaldosteronism. Potassium falls, blood pressure rises, swelling, weight gain, muscle weakness, up to muscle breakdown. JADER 2004-2022: 210 cases, 69 percent women, 85.2 percent aged 70 or more. Risk up with age 70+ (OR 5.0), dementia (7.0), weight under 50 kg (2.2), water pills (2.1), use beyond 14 days (2.8). Leaflets warn against other licorice formulas, glycyrrhizin products, loop and thiazide diuretics.”
What Jeanny says
The Peel, Netherlands, and Spain · The Spanish Kitchen
“Regaliz (liquorice root): a throat soother in a small amount, a blood pressure problem in a large one.”
What Master Liang says
Sichuan, China · Chinese Herbs
“Legal but unlabelled: licorice, rhubarb, bupleurum, scutellaria, pinellia, asarum, Tripterygium, he shou wu, Psoralea, Dictamnus. Liang supplies the warnings.”
“Shao Yao Gan Cao Tang 芍药甘草汤. Peony and licorice only, for sudden cramps of the legs. Kampo Shakuyakukanzoto. Risk: the most licorice of all the common formulas, never as a habit.”
What Farzana says
Isfahan, Iran · The Persian Kitchen
“Pregnancy in a Dutch kitchen. Keep the warm soups and the pairing, follow the Dutch food advice for pregnancy, check every new or unusual food with the midwife, and no saffron, liquorice, senna or gol gav zaban beyond plain kitchen use.”