Des effets pervers d'une habitude apparemment anodine…

Lesson of the week: hypokalaemia and hypertension associated with use of liquorice flavoured chewing gum

“…A dose-response study of glycyrrhizinic acid in healthy volunteers showed that a significant fall in plasma potassium concentration from 4.3 mmol/l to 3.5 mmol/1 occurred at a dose of 800 mg or more a day 8. To our knowledge, only two similar cases of hypermineralocorticoidism associated with the use of chewing gum have been described 9 10. Why some people are susceptible to low doses of glycyrrhizinic acid remains to be elucidated.…”

Low Doses of Liquorice Can Induce Hypertension Encephalopathy

“…These symptoms are the most frequent causes of medical care [5,6], although an association with hemorrhagic gastritis has also been reported [7]. Blood pressure is usually in the low to medium range of hypertension values, however in some cases they may be very high and do not decrease after the emergency prescription of antihypertension medication [8][9][10][11]. Drugs are often used for chronic treatment of the symptoms and usually the eating habits of the patients are not investigated [4,5].…”