Licorice is known for its ability to heal ulcerations along the digestive tract. For example, applying licorice to oral ulcers over the course of a week resulted in smaller ulcers than no treatment at all.[1] Further clinical evidence from review studies suggested that licorice may be an effective treatment for reducing the pain, size, and healing time of oral canker sores.[2][3]
Licorice appears to be effective for reducing the symptoms of functional dyspepsia (indigestion) and ulcerative colitis.[4][5] Several compounds in licorice are thought to relax the intestinal muscles, which may provide relief from intestinal cramping.[6][7][8][9]
Licorice components (liquiritigenin and isoliquiritigenin) reduced the size of fat cells in fatty liver in mice through a variety of mechanisms, which hints at therapeutic possibilities, but human studies will be needed before this can be confirmed.[10][11][12][13][14][15] When combined with standard treatments, licorice might improve the liver function of children with acute hepatitis, but the evidence for this approach is rated as low or very low certainty.[4]
There is limited evidence for licorice to reduce body fat, though glycyrretinic acid (topical application of 2.5% cream for one month) shows the most promise for fat reduction without weight change.[16][17] Individuals without overweight/obesity who took 3.5 grams of licorice per day orally for two months reported body fat reductions which were not attributable to the loss of retained water.[18] However, another study where the participants used licorice for four weeks (100 grams of licorice; 150 mg of glycyrrhetic acid) actually saw an increase in body mass index that was attributed to water weight, so the results are still conflicting.[19]