<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
Dear Listmates,
This is a confusing issue; I had no idea that I would get an outpouring of
over 50 responses in a little more than 24 hours. I want to thank everyone who
so kindly replied.
*The overwhelming answer to my question as to whether licorice contained
gluten was as follows: licorice in pure form is an herb made from bark and, as
such, is GF.
*Almost all licorice candies (or "sweets") are made from licorice with WHEAT
added either as a coating or in the processing itself. Most posters said that
this is clearly stated on the candy wrapper, with wheat listed as an
ingredient. This is soemthing especially important for parents of CD kids to
be aware of.
*One poster from Australia wrote and said that there is only one company which
produces a GF licorice and she gave the identifying information about that
company; would the poster who gave that information to me please post it again
to the general list, since I have gotten many, many requests from celiacs
looking for a GF licorice and I accidentally deleted that post before I could
save it??
*It gets complicated at this point. Dawn wrote the following: The herb,
Licorice root (Glycyrrhiza or Liquiritiae) should not usually contain gluten.
HOWEVER, the root is usually ground up or used as a powdered extract and this
could possibly be mixed with other ingredients when people want to use a
licorice extract in a medicine. For example, many other herbal extracts are
prepared using water/ethanol extraction with maltodextrin as a carrier
(sometimes this maltodextrin is wheat derived). This poster went on to say
that she knows someone who had a bad reaction to licorice because the friend
suffers from high blood pressure and thinks there is a connection.
*Another person wrote to say that licorice is the best and greatest detoxifier
for the liver and is a wonderful cleanser for a congested liver which has been
clogged from backed-up toxins which many celiacs suffer before diagnosis. But,
be careful, because licorice is very powerful and should be taken in small
doses, especially in the beginning of a detox. In Chinese medicine licorice is
known as gi, the "universal cleanser" (I may not have gotten that quite right;
would someone send me the correction if it's not accurate?).
*Many people suggested that my daughter might be allergic to licorice itself.
*Many others suggested, as I suspect, that she was given too many powerful and
concentrated detoxifying agents at the same time and this stirred up some old
celiac symptoms as too many toxins in the liver were released too quickly.
Something definitely triggered a celiac response in her in the form of a
blinding migraine, which is her primary symptom. She immediately stopped
taking all the new supplements and feels considerably better. I will research
everything and will summarize anything helpful as I gather information.
Interestingly, the doctor gave her the new supplements as stress-reducers, so
licorice must play a role in this too.
*Proponents of using licorice as a supplement for good health say that they
have not had any problems with pure licorice over long periods of time, and
highly suggest others using it.
*I have deleted other useful information by mistake since I got so many of
these emails at the same time. I would be open and grateful for a repeat of
any of your posts and I will continue to summarize other helpful information
that I get. This sounds like a topic that could have great benefit for us as
celiacs.
Best GF wishes and, again, thanks to everyone who helped me with this
situation,
Leslie Granson
Atlanta USA
|
