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Man dies from eating more than a bag of liquorice a day

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Man dies from eating more than a bag of liquorice a day

#61

Post by cmehdy »

alekratz wrote: post #57
cmehdy wrote: post #47

I sure am glad the BBC reports on a death by licorice over, say, the Assange hearing. It is indeed vitally important for me to hear such news after all.

People can think about more than one thing at a time, you know

That's always the argument put forward, isn't it? But apparently in this case they can't, since they haven't. (yes, that is also a syllogism)

Also worth noting that the definition of "news" seems to be fairly elusive, when this sort of "news" is worthy of an article and the other sort isn't.

Re: Man dies from eating more than a bag of liquorice a day

#62

Post by vector_spaces »

If any of you drink Traditional Medicinals or Yogi brand teas when you're sick (Throat Coat, Cold Care, etc), note that many of them contain licorice root and therefore glycyrrhizic acid. It drives me crazy that there weren't more prominent warnings on these because people tend to drink dozens of cups a day when they're sick, which can be dangerous for certain people

Re: Man dies from eating more than a bag of liquorice a day

#63

Post by callumprentice »

vidarh wrote: post #48
callumprentice wrote: post #37

I am a huge fan of liquorice and have been for years but had no idea it could cause hypertension. Since my favorite type is the really salty Dutch kind, I did wonder if that made it worse. However, one of the symptoms is hypokalemia (low potassium) and I think the Dutch salt is potassium based so maybe it's actually helpful. He said, optimistically.

Is it not using ammonium chloride? That's usually what is used for salty licorice in Scandinavia. It takes huge amounts or really low amounts of potassium in your diet for it to be a problem. Frankly you're likely to notice it on your stools long before you consume enough to be a problem. If you eat lots of licorice mostly just ensure you get enough potassium from other sources.

Oh yes - that's right. I knew it wasn't plain old sodium chloride but I remember now that's it's ammonium chloride. Thanks for pointing that out.

Re: Man dies from eating more than a bag of liquorice a day

#64

Post by jrumbut »

mikecoles wrote: post #2

I did some looking into what made black licorice taste so good and to see if enjoying it was genetic. I was surprised to find out it can be toxic. All of these years my grandfather and I have been poisoning each other. Guess we should celebrate we survived it with a pint of sarsaparilla.

Could you describe the flavor? I understand there are differences in whether people but I'd love to hear if we are experiencing a similar and evaluating it differently or what.

I can withstand the flavor but not sure I would ever seek it out.

Re: Man dies from eating more than a bag of liquorice a day

#65

Post by klyrs »

floren wrote: post #42
tedunangst wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's the licorice that will kill you if you smoke 50 packs a day.

That would be a cigarette every 1.4 minutes, for the entire 24 hours, by the way :)

On one hand, you can compress that to once per minute and get a reasonable amount of sleep. A quick and guilt-inducing search informs me that one Matthew Tybor smoked a cigarette in a mere 36.44 seconds, so I guess that's plausible if we ignore the carbon monoxide?

On the other hand, nicotine is a stimulant, so maybe you wouldn't need to?

Re: Man dies from eating more than a bag of liquorice a day

#66

Post by Someone »

kempbellt wrote: post #14
mikecoles wrote: post #2

I did some looking into what made black licorice taste so good and to see if enjoying it was genetic. I was surprised to find out it can be toxic. All of these years my grandfather and I have been poisoning each other. Guess we should celebrate we survived it with a pint of sarsaparilla.

> what made black licorice taste so good It's amazing that people can have such different tastes. I absolutely hate the taste of black licorice. Though the act of poisoning yourself and others for fun is an extremely normalized behavior, and has been for thousands of years. We just call it drinking (alcohol).

“I absolutely hate the taste of black licorice.“

Liquorice is an acquired taste (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquired_taste). You have to learn to like it.

Re: Man dies from eating more than a bag of liquorice a day

#67

Post by umvi »

tedunangst wrote: post #31
umvi wrote: post #21

Apparently a large amount of produced liquorice goes to flavor cigarettes, up to 4% of the weight of a cigarette's tobacco blend is liquorice[0]. So I would wager that smoking liquorice has killed more people than eating it (not that that tidbit of info helps in the case of the man in the article). [0] https://www.dkfz.de/de/tabakkontrolle/download/PITOC/PITOC_T...

I don't think it's the licorice that will kill you if you smoke 50 packs a day.

Let me put it this way - based on the article I cited, removing licorice from cigarettes would probably result in a measurable drop in addiction and cancer rates (perhaps single digit %, but still measureable).

Re: Man dies from eating more than a bag of liquorice a day

#68

Post by SAI_Peregrinus »

gambiting wrote: post #49
callumprentice wrote: post #37

I am a huge fan of liquorice and have been for years but had no idea it could cause hypertension. Since my favorite type is the really salty Dutch kind, I did wonder if that made it worse. However, one of the symptoms is hypokalemia (low potassium) and I think the Dutch salt is potassium based so maybe it's actually helpful. He said, optimistically.

So as an aside - I've had some salted liquorice in Sweden, and the closest I can't compare this experience to is having drain cleaner poured on your tongue, and then rubbed in with some sandpaper. But hey, we eat pickled mushrooms and meat in jelly, so what do I know ;-)

Aaah, but it's like having drain cleaner poured on your tongue and rubbed in with sandpaper, but in a way that for whatever weird reason makes you want to try it again. And again. It's oddly tasty, and you keep thinking "it can't possibly be as bad as the last time" and then it is. But still hauntingly tasty.

Weird experience. I want to spit it out, but I also want another piece.

On a side note, the salt used (ammonium chloride) is also a primary component of soldering iron tip cleaner. You can buy blocks of the stuff for that purpose, it's highly effective (though extremely aggressive, so to be used only after the wet sponge and brass wool have failed to remove the oxide). Works about like you'd expect it to, given the taste.

Re: Man dies from eating more than a bag of liquorice a day

#69

Post by callumprentice »

gambiting wrote: post #49
callumprentice wrote: post #37

I am a huge fan of liquorice and have been for years but had no idea it could cause hypertension. Since my favorite type is the really salty Dutch kind, I did wonder if that made it worse. However, one of the symptoms is hypokalemia (low potassium) and I think the Dutch salt is potassium based so maybe it's actually helpful. He said, optimistically.

So as an aside - I've had some salted liquorice in Sweden, and the closest I can't compare this experience to is having drain cleaner poured on your tongue, and then rubbed in with some sandpaper. But hey, we eat pickled mushrooms and meat in jelly, so what do I know ;-)

Wait until you try the Finnish salty liquorice alcohol called Salmiakkikossu. I love the salty candy but this is foul :) I read once that it was best described as old tractor tires marinated in moose piss :)

Re: Man dies from eating more than a bag of liquorice a day

#70

Post by Wistar »

Strong black licorice, "lakrids," abounds in Denmark. My brother visited me when I was living there and ate a pound or so of little, tobacco-pipe shaped licorice in an afternoon. He got profoundly ill with a racing heartbeat, lightheaded, dizzy and nauseous. I almost took him to the hospital but he refused. It took a couple of days before he felt good enough to get out of the apartment.

Sometime after, I mentioned this to a Danish friend and he said, "Oh, yeah, you never want to eat much of that. People have damaged their eyesight from eating too much."

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