Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) Flavonoids

Product name: Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) Flavonoids

Product description: Licorice has been considered a medicinal plant for thousands of years. Its most common side effect is hypokalemic hypertension, which is secondary to a block of 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 at the level of the kidney, leading to an enhanced mineralocorticoid effect of cortisol. This effect is due to glycyrrhetinic acid, which is the main constituent of the root, but other components are also present, including isoflavans, which have estrogen-like activity, and are thus involved in the modulation of bone metabolism. We investigated nine healthy women 22-26 years old, in the luteal phase of the cycle. They were given 3.5 g of a commercial preparation of licorice (containing 7.6%, w/w of glycyrrhizic acid) daily for 2 months.