U.S. man dies from eating too much black licorice
Posted Sep 25, 2020 9:21 am.
Last Updated Sep 25, 2020 11:47 am.
BOSTON – A Massachusetts construction worker’s love of black licorice wound up costing him his life.
A report in the New England Journal of Medicine describes the case of a 54-year-old construction worker who died after eating a bag and a half of black licorice every day for a few weeks.
Researchers say the lack of nutrients caused a fatal heart attack.
Doctors found he had dangerously low potassium.
Eating as little as two ounces of black licorice a day for two weeks could cause a heart rhythm problem, especially for those over 40, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns.
“It’s more than licorice sticks. It could be jelly beans, licorice teas, a lot of things over the counter. Even some beers, like Belgian beers, have this compound in it,” as do some chewing tobaccos, said Dr. Robert Eckel, a University of Colorado cardiologist and former American Heart Association president. He had no role in the Massachusetts man’s care.
The death was clearly an extreme case. The man had switched from red, fruit-flavored twists to the black licorice version of the candy a few weeks before his death last year.
He collapsed while having lunch at a fast-food restaurant.
Emergency responders did CPR and he revived, but died the next day in hospital.
