rubyvroom:

spankjonze:

i wrote this

If you’re 40 or older, eating 2 ounces of black licorice a day for at least two weeks could land you in the hospital with an irregular heart rhythm or arrhythmia.

I refuse to believe this has ever happened. 

(#Licorice Georg who eats 2 ounces of black licorice every day was an outlier and should not have been counted … #also Licorice Georg has heart problems don’t be like Licorice Georg)

If that were a common reaction without preexisting conditions, at least half of Northern Europe would have keeled over dead well before now. There are a lot of Licorice Georgs across multiple countries (generally with higher life expectancies than the US, I might add).

Meanwhile, at our house…

“Sweden’s most bought car”. Forget Volvo or Saab, ammonium chloride-encrusted licorice is where it’s at 🙄

Rather coincidentally found that in the floor a little while ago, and thought it was kinda funny. My partner may have to go out of his way to find it these days, but at least one bag at a time makes the perfect snack! And that’s not unusual. (Want a licoriced-up ice cream hockey puck? Multiple choices!)

Yeah, I live with one iteration of Licorice Georg. Who is over 40 and showing no apparent ill effects so far.

OTOH, I have never personally been a fan, with or without the added fertilizer “salt” factor. More for Georg 😉

But, getting back to the more serious side? I recall periodic warnings at least since the ‘80s. Doing a quick search, the FDA has kept issuing statements around Halloween for years. Licorice root has been used medicinally, and overdoing it (especially longterm) without keeping that in mind is not a great idea. A little more info.

Licorice extracts used for flavoring do contain chemicals which some people are more sensitive to than others. And people dealing with certain conditions already may not want to load up on it. (Mainly cardiac problems, existing high blood pressure, liver or kidney problems–as you might expect from the alarmist blanket warnings.) Being over 40 means that people are more likely to have developed some of those chronic conditions, but that seems to be the only real relevance there.

Basically, show some sense. That’s liable to be a lot more helpful advice than all the low-information alarmist messages, and not just with this 😒