Benefits of licorice

Licorice, or the root of this plant, tobe more specific, is, lately, known to have numerous elements whichare helpful for staying at good health.

Licorice, when used as a pharmaceuticaldrug, is very effective when fighting ulcers. It contains elementswhich help in removing various types of ulcers. It is only good tochoose the drug over the natural root because the drug has only theuseful elements of licorice isolated whereas the root itself maycontain other elements which may cause high blood pressure.

Known to increase immunity and everything that is good in our body which helps us fight diseases caused bybacterial, viral or any other infections, licorice is also known tobe very good when fighting HIV. Namely, because of the thingsmentioned above, licorice is able to slow down the progress ofthis virus into causing AIDS by slowing the reproduction of the virusitself.

People suffering from hepatitis mayalso find this plant helpful as it has been proven to be a successfulpart of the treatment for this disease.

Those females who act grumpy, nervous,easily irritated and anxious near “those days”, should know thatlicorice may help them. By balancing body's levels of estrogen, it isknown to help reducing or removing symptoms of the infamous PMS inwomen.

When applied externally, licorice isknown to be very beneficial to our skin, renewing it, reducingirritations, making healing process faster along with acting as agood medicine for many skin diseases and their symptoms.

Licorice is good for our adrenalineglands and as such helps us with fighting chronic fatigue or anysyndromes regarding slow metabolism. Additionally, it helps withrespiratory problems such as coughing, asthma or many others.

Another good side of this plant is thatit helps balancing our body's cholesterol levels.

Unfortunately, licorice, regardless ofhow good a remedy it may be, has its side-effects. It has beenmentioned above that it may cause high blood pressure, but it canalso cause sodium and water retention as well as loss of potassium.Pregnant women are not advised to take it since it may causepremature birth.

Whatever the side-effects may be, theycan be removed by correct dosage of licorice beforehand.Approximately 50 grams of pure licorice should be the limit whenintaking or using it, as any larger amount can cause more harm thangood to one's organism.