each week we comb through science journals to explore a baffling medical issue.
a 54-year-old construction worker who bit off more than he could chew now serves as another cautionary tale of the dark side of black licorice.
the massachusetts man, whose untimely death two years ago was
documented in the new england journal of medicine
, had no history of heart problems and was active at home and work before suddenly collapsing at a mcdonald’s and dying in hospital 24 hours later. doctors soon discovered the man, who was not identified in the report, had been consuming one to two bags of black licorice every day for the previous three weeks.
“we almost didn’t believe it when we figured it out,” said jacqueline b. henson, the doctor who treated the man while a resident at the hospital,
according to the new york times
. “we were all shocked and surprised.”
black licorice contains a sweetening compound known as glycyrrhizin that can cause a person’s potassium levels to drop to dangerous levels,
according to the u.s. food and drug administration (fda)
. this deficit can lead some people to experience a range of problematic symptoms, including abnormal heart rhythms, high blood pressure, swelling, lethargy and congestive heart failure.