I don’t know why anyone would eat it anyway – but researchers in Finland have now found that a naturally-occurring sweetener found in liquorice could affect the nervous system of your baby.
Published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the study found that those who ate the strong-tasting sweet during pregnancy had children with lower IQ’s and three times more risk of ADHD compared to lower exposure groups.
Interestingly, they also found that daughters of mums who ate the most Liquorice reached puberty later – which could also be a sign of physical and mental disorders.
The culprit is glycyrrhizin which is part of the liquorice plant and it causes an increase in the level of stress hormone, cortisol when eaten.
There is currently no advice against eating the sweet while pregnant by the WHO but Finland’s National Health Institute has now added it to a list of foods to be avoided when expecting.
