Effect of Licorice polysaccharides before and after honey-processing on improving chronic fatigue syndrome and its mechanism 2024 Fu et al

Highlights

• The molecular weight distribution and monosaccharide composition of licorice polysaccharides changed to a certain extent before and after honey-processing.
  
  
• Both raw licorice polysaccharides (RLP) and honey-processed licorice (HPLP) can improve chronic fatigue syndrome, and the effect of HPLP is better than that of RLP.
  
  
• Multi-omics analysis showed that RLP and HPLP can improve chronic fatigue by regulating the body's immune function.
  

Abstract

Honey-processed Licorice, a type of Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizome processed with honey, is renowned for its superior effectiveness in tonifying the spleen and invigorating Qi compared to the raw product. Our previous research showed that flavonoids and saponins in licorice changed after processing. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the changes of chemical composition and biological activity of polysaccharides after processing.

The weight-average molecular weight (Mw) measured by HPGPC showed that the Mw distribution range of raw licorice polysaccharides (RLP) was 1.34 × 103–1.36 × 106 Da, and the Mw distribution range of honey-processed licorice polysaccharides (HPLP) was 1.15 × 103–1.17 × 106 Da, the Mw distribution range of the two were basically the same. The analysis of monosaccharide composition showed that the types of monosaccharide in RLP and HPLP were consistent, and the contents of mannose, rhamnose, glucuronic acid, galacturonic acid and glucose in HPLP were significantly higher than those in RLP. Furthermore, the impact of these polysaccharides on chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) showed that the high-dose group of HPLP had significantly better improvement of IL-2, IFN-γ and IgA than RLP. Multi-omics analysis showed that both of them could affect the immune system by regulating immunoglobulin, B-cell signaling pathway and T cell phenotypic differentiation. Interestingly, the HPLP could affect the natural killer cells mediated cytotoxicity on this basis. The above results indicated the effects of honey processing on the chemical composition and biological activities of licorice polysaccharides and elucidated the underlying mechanism of the superior biological activities of HPLP over RLP.

Paywall, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0141813024047731

 

Licorice raises my blood pressure to a disturbing degree, and this is often mentioned as an effect of eating it.

Having discovered this quite a few years ago I have avoided it ever since since my BP is often on the high side already.

I can imagine that raising the blood pressure might be beneficial if the patient has low blood pressure to start with, but I am not convinced it is a good or a safe way of raising BP in anyone, with or without ME.

Does raising low blood pressure give people more energy?

 

Do they have a reliable method for quantifying Qi?

 

I wonder if it could help symptoms if someone has orthostatic hypotension. But obviously raising blood pressure willy nilly is a bad idea.

 

this is a recognised fact; it even gets a mention by the NHS and British Heart foundation.
I have a load of research papers about it as I suspected it when I first found out about having v.high blood pressure (the GP I spoke to didn't know about it). Although contrary to what the NHS say (ie that blood pressure will right itself within a couple of weeks of cessation of consumption of licorice) the research shows that the drug in licorice consumed over a period of time can cause much longer lasting effects (several months) on blood pressure.

 

They get a bit confused with what is CFS and chronic fatigue and then talk about their product helping chronic fatigue, so I do not know how they came up with it helping ME/CFS without a proper randomised control trial. Burnout is not ME.

They reword BPS into social, psychological and biological factors...it is still BPS. Just because TCM is used to "treat" CFS by people who want to have TCM. It is considered an alternative medicine by the modern medical profession (maybe not in Chinese speaking populations that use culturally based medicine alongside modern medicine). It doesn't mean it is effective and I am not sure it is remarkable either. Nor is TCM without side effects. If it is so mild, without side effects, one might question if it is having any effect on one's biology. I like licorice (and I do know you shouldn't overeat it because of the effects on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone hormone pathway) and honey polysaccharides (sugar) are in many foods I eat and I have yet to be relieved.

Some reading on excess licorice effects on hormone pathways here - raises blood pressure, lowers potassium levels and then can cause cardiac arrhythmia
PMC6836258