Pregnant women should avoid liquorice: Study

Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Researchers from the University of Helsinki in Finland have found that consuming large amounts of liquorice during pregnancy can impact the developing fetus.

Liquorice is naturally sweetened with glycyrrhizin, which may be harmful to a fetus when consumed in large amounts during pregnancy, according to researchers.

Glycyrrihizin is known to intensify the effects of the stress hormone cortisol by inhibiting the enzyme that inactivates cortisol, which is vital for a developing fetus but can be harmful in large quantities. Glycyrrhizin can cause higher blood pressure and shorter pregnancies.

However, the long-term effects on a fetus have not been studied until now.

The study compared 378 adolescents age 13, whose mothers consumed large amounts of liquorice, over 500 mgs per week, and those whose mothers consumed little to no liquorice during pregnancy, less than 249 mgs per week, and found that the youth who were exposed to large amounts of liquorice in utero performed worse on cognitive reasoning tests than those who were not exposed to large amounts of liquorice. The difference among the two groups was significant and resulted in a reduced score of about seven IQ points.

Youths who were exposed to high amounts of liquorice in utero also performed poorly on tasks that measured memory capacity and had more ADHD-type symptoms. Results of the study also showed that girls started puberty earlier after being exposed to large amounts of liquorice in utero.

The study will be published Feb. 3 in the American Journal of Epidemiology.