Licorice - medicinal properties and contraindications

What is the root of licorice, what are its healing characteristics and are there any limitations in use? Is there any real benefit from this plant? The answers to these questions are of interest to people leading healthy lifestyles who monitor their own well-being, are lovers of alternative medicine, who prefer to be treated with medicinal herbs.

What is licorice?

Licorice is a medicinal plant; its root is most often used in medicine. Medicine of the East a few millennia ago took this plant as a panacea for many diseases. Every second bought caramel, which the doctor prescribed for diseases of the throat or cough. Very often it is indicated on them that in the composition there is precisely licorice, and not licorice.

This plant is not used in pharmacology alone, an extract from it is used to smell tobacco for smoking or inhalation. Licorice root infusion has a black tint, and can stain materials. Because of this, it is used for dyeing wool.

In cooking, the plant is used to foam and as a sweetener, for example, for the preparation of beer, kvass, non-alcoholic drinks. It is used as a flavoring filler in order to make halva, jelly, caramel and chocolate.

Licorice is a perennial from the legume family. The plant reaches a height of one and a half meters. The root is wide, hard, has processes and one rod rhizome, extending into the ground for several meters. The leaves are arranged alternately, they are not simple, cuttings, with sticky variegated veins. Inflorescences in the form of a brush, the whorl has a light purple hue. The fruits are like long beans.

Healing characteristics

The base of the plant contains:

• saponins;
• sucrose;
• glucose;
• amino acid;
• starch;
• proteins and minerals;
• vitamins.

It has the ability to relieve cramps, inflammation and is an excellent expectorant. Healers in China have long used licorice as an antidote for food intoxication, and until today it has been added to almost any healing supplement.

The most common use of licorice is to consume fresh rhizomes. In modern medicine, such preparations from the plant as licorice rhizome extract, dry powder, infusion or syrup, various breast collections, where dried and ground root is included as the main element, are known. Rhizomes for coughing for a child and an adult are an exceptional remedy.

The dry collection is brewed as tea and consumed in ½ cup several times during the day. This will help in a short time to get rid of dry cough with colds and inflammation in the bronchi.

Fees with licorice are widely used in alternative medicine and today with pulmonary tuberculosis, as a diuretic, with bowel obstruction, with ailments caused by a change in water and mineral balance, with hemorrhoidal cones, stomach and 12 duodenal ulcers, and oncology.

What are the benefits of licorice:

1. Therapy of the respiratory system. The plant increases sputum production, which helps to cough up a significant number of bacteria from the bronchi. As a result, it is effectively used in the treatment of prolonged dry cough with pneumonia, tonsillitis, for voice regeneration with inflammation of the larynx.
2. It can relieve inflammation, increases the healing effect of other drugs, enhancing their therapeutic effect, because of this, licorice is added to many medicinal herbs. The root of the plant helps at high temperatures.
3. Relieves muscle cramps, normalizes the functioning of the heart and blood vessels, improves well-being with low blood pressure, thyroid diseases.
4. It improves the functioning of the pancreas, increasing the body's productivity of its insulin, this is one of the methods of diabetes treatment. Glycyrrhizic acid, which is obtained from the plant, is used as a sugar substitute for diabetes.
5. Antidote. Glycyrrhizin contained in the plant blocks the effects of toxins that have penetrated the human body.
6. Licorice inhibits the development of cancer cells, because of this it is indispensable in the treatment of cancer, as well as prostate adenoma.
7. Together with other herbs, it is used to treat gastritis, stomach ulcers, as a laxative.
8. Effectively used for the treatment of allergies and skin diseases.
9. In a small dosage, licorice products effectively relieve inflammation in the kidneys and the genitourinary system.
10. It is used in the treatment of joint diseases.
11. It relieves depression, perfectly enhances the central nervous system tone, reduces fatigue.

Prevention characteristics

1. It is used to prevent gastrointestinal diseases, establish the secretion of gastric juice, get rid of heartburn, improve the digestive system.
2. Constant consumption in small volumes of licorice rhizome (like a powder or a drink) stabilizes blood sugar and sterol levels, prevents chronic disease of arteries, diabetes, improves the functioning of the pancreas and adrenal glands.
3. It has beneficial effects on hormonal balance, increases resistance to oxygen deficiency, normalizes water and salt balance in the body, relieves pain before menstruation, and stabilizes the cycle.
4. Effectively used to prevent liver disease.
5. Increases immunity, helps to prevent depression. Chinese medicine puts the rhizome of licorice and ginseng in one row, advising people of retirement age to use it to improve their tone and mood, to increase their lifespan.
6. Licorice root slices are advised to chew to prevent caries and inflammation of the oral cavity.
7. Village midwives recommended a plant root infusion as a contraceptive.

Licorice rhizome during pregnancy

The body of a woman while waiting for the baby needs additional support and protection, in particular, increasing immunity. A broth made from the rhizome of licorice is perfect for this. However, before taking it, you need to consult your doctor.

If you do not comply with the dosage, then the product can harm a woman and a baby:

• Disrupt the water and salt balance, thereby causing swelling and weakness of the body.
• Toxicosis in late pregnancy, which can be very dangerous for a woman.
• Increase the activity of hormones.

In each specific situation, it is necessary to correctly determine the dose of the drug and, if there is any ailment, notify the specialist immediately.

How to use the plant for children

An older child can chew segments of dry rhizome or drink tea based on it. The dose is selected depending on its weight:

• Less than 30 kilograms - 1/3 of the norm of an adult.
• From 30 to 35 kilograms is half the norm.
• 35-45 kilograms - 2/3 of the adult norm.

It is better for newborns and babies up to 3 years of age not to take licorice-based medications without a doctor's prescription. You can use them only in extreme cases, when other medicinal herbs do not help cure the disease.

A rhizome syrup is prescribed by a pediatrician after a detailed examination of the patient.Biologically active substances that are part of licorice products help to regenerate and improve the body quickly enough. The main thing is the dosage and a responsible approach to treatment.

Application Limitations

• High blood pressure.
• State of pregnancy.
• Heart failure.
• Do not take newborns.
• High adrenal gland activity.
• Serious liver ailments.
• Blood clotting.
• Predisposition to blood clots and bleeding.

Do not use simultaneously with drugs that lower blood pressure and diuretics.

With prolonged and non-dosed consumption, diuresis changes, swelling increases. In certain patients, licorice root provokes irritation of the gastrointestinal mucosa.

During therapy with licorice, possible violations in the reproductive system: weak libido, increased gynecomastia, breast enlargement, pubic hair loss. A plant can hold fluid in the body. It is forbidden to use liquorice-based products with excess weight.

The most common licorice recipes

1. Cough Drink. They take 20 grams of dried grass and 10 grams of the collection of Icelandic moss, then you need to add a little road and chamomile, and in order to prepare a collection for soothing, you can also add Valerian. Mix everything thoroughly and pour 250 milliliters of hot water. Let it brew for a while and take after meals, instead of the usual tea for us.
2. Juice from rhizome from stomach disease. For a long time to solve the problem with gastritis and relieve pain in the pancreas will help juice from the root of licorice. To do this, mix a small spoonful of juice with 250 ml of cold water. Drink in 10 min. before eating.
3. A blast for expectoration. When treating colds, you need to prepare a medical boil. To do this, 15 grams of chopped root must be poured with a mug of hot water. Hold the boil in a water bath and filter. Take in small doses of 10-15 milliliters, several times during the day.
4. Liquorice for pulmonary tuberculosis. Mix 6 grams of rhizome with 250 milliliters of water, boil over low heat for a quarter of an hour. Then filter and clean in a cool dark place for 20 days. Drink a small spoon daily.
5. Tincture to enhance immunity. It is allowed to take tincture during the year with certain interruptions. To cook it, you need to fill in 50 grams of dry collection with 250 milliliters of hot water. Leave for 3 hours and consume for 30 minutes. before eating. The duration of treatment is a month.
6. Rhizome of a plant for the treatment of prostate adenoma. To prepare the boil, you need to pour a spoonful of rhizome ½ liter of running water, put on a small fire and bring the composition to a boiling state, let it boil for about 10 minutes. Then cool the broth and filter it. Take it in 3 circles three times a day for 40 minutes. before meals, for 3 weeks. The next 3 weeks they take a boil from the rhizome of burdock, and again they drink a boil from licorice. So, in turn, the therapy is carried out.
7. Liquorice for joint diseases and eczema. Put 10 grams of rhizome into the container, add a mug of hot water. The composition should be covered and heated in a water bath, kept for 20 minutes, and then insisted for another 40 minutes. The broth is filtered off, topped up with boiled water to the initial volume. Use a spoon in 5 divided doses throughout the day.
8. Liquorice root for jade. One and a half tablespoons of licorice root, the same amount of marshmallow and celandine root, mix well. A spoon of such collection is poured with a mug of hot water, left for half an hour and carefully filtered. Use 3 cups per day.
9. Plant against peptic ulcer. The rhizome of the plant is the most effective tool for the treatment of gastric ulcer and 12 duodenal ulcer. First, they prepare a collection of a spoon of rhizome of licorice, linden and chamomile, add a spoon of dill seed to it.2 large spoons of the collection collected pour a mug of hot water. The infusion is left in a dark place for 2 hours and filtered. Drink a fee in 3 divided doses throughout the day, half a glass.

Rhizome Syrup
For lovers of the licorice flavor, you can prepare a medicinal product based on the root of the plant. This solution is multifunctional, cured with a wet cough, withdrawal of mucus from the body, pain in the larynx.

The healing composition should be drunk in a diluted form with water, for babies half a large spoon, adults drink a full spoon. Children who are not yet 2 years old are allowed to give 2 drops of syrup per ½ cup of water.

Store the composition in the refrigerator. Before taking it, you must always consult a specialist to identify a specific non-hazardous dosage.

The drug is forbidden to drink to people with hypersensitivity to certain elements, and women in position, as well as to nursing mothers, if there is no emergency. If the drug is not used correctly, then an allergic reaction and a jump in blood pressure are possible.

Dry cough rhizome
There are several recipes for getting rid of a dry obsessive cough:

Recipe number 1

• Rhizome of licorice - 2 tablespoons;
• A series of three separate - a spoon;
• St. John's wort - a spoon.

Recipe number 2

• Rhizome of licorice - 2 tablespoons;
• Centaury - a spoon;
• The root of a dandelion is a spoon.

All mix well. A spoonful of healing collection is poured into a mug of hot water and put on a fire to boil for about 5 minutes, then it is well cleaned. Drink 3 mugs a day.

Preparation of healing powder
There are recipes where the broth is made from powder. When coughing and stomach ailments, it is used in a dry form for half a spoon, washed down with ordinary running water. A person will benefit from a cold if you mix the powder with honey.

How to prepare cough powder:

• Gently take 20 shares of senna and licorice;
• Add 10 shares of dill and sulfur in pure form (available at the pharmacy);
• Also add 40 parts sugar.
• All mix well.

The dry composition is consumed in a small spoon three times a day. The composition of sulfur and licorice is prescribed if the child is tormented by pinworms, as a laxative, an antiseptic for treating the skin with dandruff, scabies and psoriasis.

How to prepare raw materials

For treatment, the rhizome of a four-year-old plant is used. It must be dug in late autumn or early spring. The rhizome is well washed with running water, cleaned of bark and allowed to dry under sunlight or in a well-ventilated area.

A properly prepared rhizome usually has a yellowish tint, it should break easily, but not crumble. Keep the root in drawers or dry containers. Raw materials can be stored for a long time - approximately 10 years.

Video: licorice benefits