Doctors Finally See What Made This ‘Healthy’ 10-Year-Old Boy So Very Sick
There is apparently an ingredient in black licorice candy that if eaten in mass could cause harmful health effects.
After a 10-year-old boy in Bologna, Italy, suffered four seizures, doctors eventually determined they were the result of eating up to 20 pieces of licorice a day for four months. In addition, he had a headache and high blood pressure, according to the case study published in the journal Pediatric Neurology.
The cause of these symptoms, determined after other possibilities were ruled out, was the active ingredient in the candy: glycyrrhizic acid. Doctors found out the boy was eating so much licorice on a daily basis because when they saw him a week after the initial incident, his teeth were black.
The boy had been eating more than the World Health Organization’s recommended maximum of 2 mg/kg of glycyrrhizic acid, the case study authors wrote.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the effects of glycyrrhizic acid in licorice is not a concern at the level that most people consume them, but it added that it could become a problem in the “few individuals who may indulge themselves with excessive intakes of licorice-containing candies and/or beverages.”
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