In a study supervised by Dr. Decio Armanini, professor of endocrinology at the University of Padua, a group of people were asked to eat an apportioned amount of liquorice every day for two months.
After the two months, they were examined and it was found that they had lost quite a lot of subcutaneous fat while the fluid content of their bodies had increased. Their weight had remained unchanged.
It appeared that even though their amount of body fat had been reduced, their body weight was not reduced accordingly. This apparent paradox is the consequence of liquorice also retaining fluid.
Seven students were weighed and had their amount of body fat and -fluid measured. Then, they were asked to eat 3.5 g. of liquorice a day - genuine liquorice, that is, without any artificial flavouring.
The researchers believe that the strong taste of liquorice may have put a damper on the ability of the students to taste and thereby it may also have put a damper on their natural craving for food.
The researchers therefore believe that if you also reduce your consumption of salt whilst eating liquorice, your excretion of liquid will be increased and that this will result in a genuine weight loss.
However, professor Armanini warns people against eating large amounts of liquorice as liquorice can cause hypertension and should therefore not be eaten by individuals with this suffering.
