Recently a neurologist I saw told me about adaptogens that can be used to regulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis or HPA axis. The term adaptogen is used by herbalists to refer to a natural herb product that is proposed to increase the body’s resistance to stress, trauma, anxiety and fatigue.
One such adaptogen is licorice. I am sure many of you have had licorice before and likely think of red Twizzlers. Some of you may not like the taste of it that much. This is because it does not contain sugar as in most candies. However, recently I have been eating licorice that is better and tastes better than Twizzlers. I found some australian licorice at World Market.
Licorice has a lot of medicinal uses and if you are depressed eating some each day might help you feel better. To learn more about the medicinal uses check out the Wikipedia article. Remember though to eat in moderation, and don’t eat too much licorice or it can cause toxicity.
Wisdom, do you know if there is a difference in the potency of red or black licorice? On the surface, I suppose licorice is licorice, but thought I’d ask.
Cory, I haven’t looked into this as I don’t like the tase of black licorice. The latin name for licorice is Glycyrrhiza glabra. Licorice can be processed to remove the glycyrrhiza so I guess it depends on this being removed or not.