Licorice Extract Benefits and Uses

Licorice is a common Chinese medicine. It has a wide range of uses. Not only is licorice often used in traditional Chinese medicine, but it is also heavily used in Western medicine. Therefore, we must know how to use licorice to serve our health. We can extract the medicinal ingredients in licorice. So what are the effects and uses of licorice extract?

Licorice is a plant with great medicinal value and is used in both Chinese and Western medicine. Western medicine has used licorice as an expectorant, cough suppressant and sweetener since ancient Greece. In the ancient Chinese pharmacology "Shennong's Herbal Classic", licorice was described as a medicine that strengthens muscles and bones, increases physical strength, and treats trauma. It was listed as a top-grade medicine and called the king of all medicines. Few traditional Chinese medicines do not use licorice.

In traditional Chinese medicine, licorice belongs to the heart, lung, spleen, and stomach meridians; it has the effects of tonifying the spleen and replenishing qi, clearing away heat and detoxifying, removing phlegm and relieving cough, relieving acute pain, and harmonizing various medicines. It is used to treat spleen and stomach weakness, fatigue, palpitations and shortness of breath, cough with sputum, cramps and pain in the abdomen and limbs, carbuncles and sores, and to relieve the toxicity and potency of drugs. The dosage is 1.5-9mg.

Studies have shown that licorice can inhibit monoamine oxidase, inhibit aldose reductase that causes diabetes, relieve spasms and pain, prevent and treat viral hepatitis, treat senile osteoporosis, and has anti-Leishmania, anti-cancer, and anti-AIDS virus effects.

Its effects are reflected in whitening and sun protection

The whitening effect of licorice extract is mainly achieved by inhibiting the activity of tyrosinase and dopachrome tautomerase (TRP-2) and hindering the polymerization of 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHl), thereby preventing the formation of melanin and achieving the effect of whitening the skin.

In licorice extracts, the ingredients with sunscreen properties are generally flavonoid compounds. Due to the conjugated nature of the molecular structure of licorice flavonoids, they show strong absorption of both ultraviolet and visible light. Molecules that absorb high-energy ultraviolet rays transition from the ground state to the excited state, and then from the excited state back to the ground state, releasing harmless low-energy rays. Compared with synthetic sunscreens, licorice extract does not require the addition of antioxidants to the formula when used as a sunscreen, does not irritate the skin, and has strong stable absorption capacity.

In the above article, we introduced what licorice is. We know that licorice is not only widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, but also in Western medicine. The above article introduces in detail the efficacy and uses of licorice extract.