A new study from Finland indicates that excess black licorice can affect a baby’s brain if taken during pregnancy. The children whose mothers consumed the most licorice while pregnant had lower IQs compared to the mothers who ate little or no licorice during their pregnancy period.
The study was published on 3rd February in the American Journal of Epidemiology. In addition to that, girls who are born to mothers who consumed great amounts of licorice during pregnancy reached puberty earlier compared to those mothers who ate little or no licorice at all.
According to the present findings, women should be informed that consumption of licorice in high amounts along with other food products containing glycyrrhizin could be associated with harm during the development of their offspring. The researchers wrote this in their study, and it was headed by Katri Räikkönen, a psychology professor at the University of Helsinki in Finland.
At the same time, according to some health organizations, which includes the US Food and Drug Administration and the WHO, they do not warn against the consumption of licorice or glycyrrhizin during the time of pregnancy. In the year licorice of 2016, Finland’s National Institute of Health and Welfare added licorice to the list of “Not Recommended” category for women who are pregnant.
During a new study, pregnant women talked about the amount of licorice the ate during the time of pregnancy. Using that information, the researchers calculated how many milligrams of the glycyrrhizin compound was taken by each woman every week.
According to the majority of mothers (around 75%) fell in the zero to low exposure group, which meant that they ate lesser than 250mg of glycyrrhizin per week. Eleven percent of the mothers ate the most, more than 500mg per week.
The researchers then contacted 451 of the mothers who ate a great amount of licorice when their children were around 10 to 12 years old. Of all these children, 330 of them were born to mothers who ate little licorice during their pregnancy.
51 of them were mothers who ate high amounts. The girls whose mothers ate high amounts reached puberty earlier than the girls of mothers who didn’t, as reported by the researchers.
Also, the kids who were born to mothers who ate high amounts of licorice during pregnancy had IQ that was 7 points lower than the kids whose mothers ate little or no licorice, as suggested by the study.
The consumption of high licorice during pregnancy is associated with the risk the child would suffer from ADHD, as found by the researchers.
The compound known as glycyrrhizin can explain the effect which was seen in the study. Meanwhile, in the body, the compound blocks the activity of an enzyme which helps protects the fetus from the excessive cortisol levels and which is sometimes referred to as the stress hormone.
The high consumption of licorice during pregnancy also creates a risk of ADHD, as found by researchers. The liquid compound of glycyrrhizin may explain the effects which are observed on the body.
Inside the body, it blocks the activity of an enzyme which helps to protect the fetus from excessive cortisol levels, also referred to as the stress hormone. Great levels of cortisol affect the neurological development of a fetus, as written by researchers.