However, unless herbs are used alongside other compounds in a patented product, they aren’t typically the money-makers of pharmaceutical counterparts. That means there’s little motivation to study how plants could be useful in treating modern human diseases.
The main study highlighted in this week’s spotlight story noted that, at least in some countries, a compound from licorice root is making its way into patented drugs.
What we do know about this particular herb is that it could be quite useful for many gut conditions like liver disease, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and illnesses driven by the overgrowth of certain microbes.
In the United States, many “licorice” products don’t contain the herb at all but are flavored with anise which has a similar taste, and costs less.
According to the National Center for Complementary Health, licorice root is primarily compounded as a dietary supplement and doesn’t have “enough high-quality evidence to clearly support its use for any health condition.”
Part of the reason for that conclusion is that it’s often combined with other ingredients which makes it difficult to isolate the effects. That checks out for me.
I have two products in my cabinet that contain licorice root—one is a supplement I’m currently taking daily and the other I use occasionally to support intermittent fasting. Both formulas are chock full of additional ingredients, but I’m quite pleased with the results I get from them.
In traditional Chinese medicine, licorice root is most often found tucked into a blend of herbs—for reasons of safety and efficacy. Too much licorice can be a bad thing.
Read on in this week’s story to learn how this powerful plant is being studied and put to use for gut health prevention and treatment—and how to avoid overuse if you’d like to try it yourself.
