Licorice root: TCM perspective

[Debra Lamana]

I was a bit concerned about the dose recommendation for the liquid extract form and checked a Traditional Chinese Medicine website for more info. Dosage recommendations are higher in this article; please use best judgement with regard to use of this supplement. Thanks, Deb

http://www.chineseherbshealing.com/lico ... cyrrhizae/
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Debra Lamana
To: Sandeep Saluja doctorsaluja@gmail.com [minutus]
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2020, 10:35:00 AM PDT
Subject: Re: [Minutus] Licorice root: (dosage & compiled links)

Many of the articles that discuss the therapeutic use of licorice root do not provide dosage guidelines specifically for upper respiratory symptoms; in the 1st link below, the following guidelines are suggested for general use of this supplement, citing PubMed and WHO:

"LIQUID licorice extract consumption by an individual should not exceed 30 mg/mL of glycyrrhizic acid. Ingesting more could cause unwanted side effects (such as significant increase in blood pressure, as mentioned here). Please read article for full details.

The recommended dosage of licorice root POWDER is less than 75 milligrams per day, according to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

Licorice root TEA: It’s not recommended that people ingest more than 8 ounces of licorice tea per day."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deb

https://www.healthline.com/health/licor ... sweet-root

https://plantmedicines.org/licorice-mers-sars/

https://www.botanicalmedicine.org/licor ... ntifungal/

https://nccih.nih.gov/health/licoriceroot

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4629407/
How may licorice be best taken and how much?
--

Dr.Sandeep Saluja

[Ellen Madono]

Chinese medicine herbal recipes are designed to balance one herb against the quality of the others. If you follow people like Matthew Wood, Western herbal recipes should also balance one herb against the other. Earthwise Page 283 says modern research demonstrates that licorice contain steroids that enhance the operation of the adrenal cortex. It affects Cortizone, but also enhances aldosterone and therefore can lead to high blood pressure in saltier dryer, hotter systems. It should never be used where high pressure is present.

[Debra Lamana]

Hi Ellen,
If I'm reading your post correctly, I think what you are also saying is that Chinese medicine typically uses herbs in combination recipes, and does not usually recommend dosing a single herb; meaning that practitioners would not typically recommend use of licorice root alone as treatment, but it would be in combination with other herbs. This has been my experience in treatment with a TCM practitioner/acupuncturist. Deb
Chinese medicine herbal recipes are designed to balance one herb against the quality of the others. If you follow people like Matthew Wood, Western herbal recipes should also balance one herb against the other. Earthwise Page 283 says modern research demonstrates that licorice contain steroids that enhance the operation of the adrenal cortex. It affects Cortizone, but also enhances aldosterone and therefore can lead to high blood pressure in saltier dryer, hotter systems. It should never be used where high pressure is present.

[Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD]

If I may... this is absolutely correct.

TCM treatments, herbs and acupuncture, are supposed to be highly individualised depending on history, weather and time modalities, physical examination essentially tongue and pulses.

What has happened over the years/centuries is that many situations presented patterns of commonalities (e.g. Fire in the Liver attacking the Heart) with always the same herbs or acupuncture points, PLUS those more specific to each patient.

The common patterns were published with their common approaches, but it was always taught, in the "olden" days, that the formulas had to be completed with the herbs/points specific to the patient. And then.... the formulas started being used as "magic potions" one size fits all, especially when Westerners brought TCM to the rest of the world... exactly as we see in Homeopathy with OTCs.

Joe.
Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD.
"The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"

www.naturamedica.co.nz

[Debra Lamana]

Thanks for adding that part to the conversation, Dr. Roz. Very interesting about the history and like homeopathy,
when the TCM herbal combinations originally were individualized to the patient's symptoms, there must have
been a better symptom match to lead to relief and cure. Deb
If I may... this is absolutely correct.

TCM treatments, herbs and acupuncture, are supposed to be highly individualised depending on history, weather and time modalities, physical examination essentially tongue and pulses.

What has happened over the years/centuries is that many situations presented patterns of commonalities (e.g. Fire in the Liver attacking the Heart) with always the same herbs or acupuncture points, PLUS those more specific to each patient.

The common patterns were published with their common approaches, but it was always taught, in the "olden" days, that the formulas had to be completed with the herbs/points specific to the patient. And then.... the formulas started being used as "magic potions" one size fits all, especially when Westerners brought TCM to the rest of the world... exactly as we see in Homeopathy with OTCs.

Joe.
Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD."The greatest enemy of any science is a closed mind"www.naturamedica.co.nz