Herbal Antibiotics: Natural Alternatives for Treating Drug-Resistant Bacteria (35 page)

In this section I will refer to both the European and Chinese species herein as “the plant” or as “licorice,” sometimes as “it.” They are used pretty much interchangeably. If I talk about another species' actions, I will list it by name.

Licorice is an unusual medicinal. It is potently antiviral, moderately antibacterial (but fairly strong against a few bacterial species such as
Staphylococcus
and
Bacillus
spp.), and moderately immune potentiating. But one of its real, and generally overlooked, strengths is that it is a very potent synergist. In fact, it should be considered one of the primary synergists in any herbal repertory.

The root, though the leaves do have similar but much milder actions.

Used as tea, in capsules, as tincture. Again: This herb is best used with other herbs in a combination formula.

Dried root, 1:5, 50 percent alcohol, 30–60 drops, up to 3x daily.

Add ½ to 1 tsp powdered root to 8 ounces water, simmer 15 minutes, strain. Drink up to 3 cups a day.

Take 2–8 “00” capsules per day.

Because of licorice's many strengths, a lot of people overuse it, with sometimes serious side effects.
This herb should rarely be used in isolation or in large doses or long term. Long-term use is especially discouraged.
The side effects are many, specifically: edema, weak limbs (or loss of limb control entirely), spastic numbness, dizziness, headache,
hypertension, and hypokalemia (severe potassium depletion)—especially in the elderly. Additional problems are decreases in plasma renin and aldosterone levels, and at very large doses decreased body and thymus weight and blood cell counts.

Because of licorice's strong estrogenic activity, it will also cause breast growth in men, especially when combined with other estrogenic herbs. Luckily all these conditions tend to abate within 2 to 4 weeks after licorice intake ceases. Caution should be used, however, in length and strength of dosages.

A number of studies have found that large doses of licorice taken long term during pregnancy have detrimental effects on the unborn children. Low doses are apparently safe. Again, this plant should not be used in large doses or for lengthy periods of time
especially if you are pregnant
.

The herb is contraindicated in hypertension, hypokalemia, pregnancy, hypernatremia, and low testosterone levels. However, for short-term use (10 days or less), in low doses combined with other herbs, it is very safe.

The plant is highly synergistic. It is also additive. It should not be used along with estrogenic pharmaceuticals, hypertensive drugs, cardiac glycosides, corticosteroids, hydrocortisone, or diuretics such as thiazides, spironolactone, or amiloride.

The
Glycyrrhiza
genus is a member of the pea family with the usual pea-type leaves—a bunch of oval leaflets running along a central stem. The plants are perennials, can grow to 6 feet (2 m) in height, and bush out to 3 feet (1 m). The plants produce spikes of the usual pea-family flowers during the summer. They range in color from yellowish to blue to purple in the various species. The plant sends out both roots and rhizomes, the roots thick and fleshy, up to 4 inches in diameter, going as deep as 3 feet (1 m). The creeping rhizomes spread out from
the primary root up to 26 feet (8 m) in length, often sending up shoots of new plants far from the original. The roots and rhizomes of the cultivated species are light in color, the wild species darker. The inside of most of the species is yellowish, and, in the European and Chinese species at least, quite sweet. The American species is not very sweet, though a lot of sources say it is (I have eaten it; still waiting for that sweet taste to emerge on my tongue). The American species, though low in sweetness, possesses many of the same medicinal actions as the more prominent medicinal species. I've not encountered any of the other less common species in practice.

The licorice flowers mature into clusters of spiky brown seed capsules each about the size of a grape (at least in the American species—the only one I have seen).

The genus ranges from semi-arid desert to lush, wet climes such as Yorkshire, England, and from sea level to 8,500 or so feet (2,500 m) in altitude. When wild, the plants often like growing along waterways in sandyish soil. The American species is endemic throughout Canada and most of the United States excluding the Southeast. The European species is cultivated many places in the Americas but has escaped and can be found here and there in California, Nevada, and Utah. I can't find a record of any wild species in mid- to southern Africa (even though it is most likely grown there), but the genus seems to have spread pretty much everywhere else. If you look around you will probably find a licorice native in your eco-range someplace.

The plants grow fairly easily from root cuttings; the seeds are more demanding. The seeds need to be stratified for several weeks, then scarified and soaked for 2 hours in warm water before sowing if you want an easy germination. Treated seeds will germinate at about an 80 percent rate, and untreated at around 20 percent. Once started, the plants are pretty intent on remaining and spreading wherever they want to. Make sure you want it where you plant it—you won't be able
to get rid of it if you change your mind. A few places here and there consider it an invasive, because, well, it is.

Both the European and Chinese varieties warrant planting in the wild and letting them go; they are well able to look after themselves if released from captivity. As they are a major medicinal, the more they spread, the better off we will be.

The plants like a free-draining friable soil with a pH between 6 and 7, but they can take on a greater range than that and do quite well. They are drought tolerant and like the sun but do need a bit of water; they often grow wild along streambeds, where they are very tenacious.

It takes a few years for the plants to establish themselves (2 to 3 years is a good minimum period of time), but once they do, you will be able to harvest from them pretty much forever. You will rarely, if ever, be able to dig up the entire root system of an established plant, and it will continue to grow and spread from what is left. Commercial growers generally achieve somewhere between 15 and 50 tons per hectare of roots once the plants have matured. The older the plants and the deeper the dig, the bigger the yield. The plants produce a lot of root mass. You can get enough medicine for an entire family from just one established plant, pretty much forever.

The plant roots and rhizomes should be harvested in the fall or early spring and dried out of the sun. The larger roots should be cut into smaller sections before being dried.

There are hundreds of compounds in licorice, many of which have been intensively studied. The main one is glycyrrhizin, which makes up to 24 percent of the root by weight. Also: glabrin A and B, glycyrrhetol, glabrolide, isoglabrolide, scores of isoflavones, coumarins, triterpene sterols, saponins, and so on and on and on.

Actions

Adrenal cortex stimulant

Adrenal tonic

Analgesic

Antibacterial

Anticancer/tumor inhibitor

Antihyperglycemic

Anti-inflammatory

Antioxidative

Antispasmodic

Antistressor

Antitussive

Antiulcerative

Antiviral

Cardioprotective

Demulcent

Estrogenic

Expectorant

Gastric secretion inhibitor

Hepatoprotective

Immunomodulant

Immunostimulant

Laxative (gentle)

Mucoprotective

Prevents biofilm formation

Protects from effects of radiation exposure

Smooth muscle relaxant

Stimulates pancreatic secretions

Synergist (potent)

Thymus stimulant

Licorice is a fairly potent synergist (see
page 217
). It is specifically called for in treating resistant Gram-negative infections as it is most potent against that family of efflux mechanisms. In general, it increases the action of other herbs and pharmaceuticals, and if added to a mixture prior to tincturing it will enhance the extraction. It also acts as a detoxicant, and, most importantly, licorice is an inhibitor of one of the main efflux mechanisms in Gram-negative bacteria. As an antiviral, it prevents viral replication across a wide range of viruses, inhibits viral growth, inhibits neuraminidases in numerous influenza strains, inactivates virus particles, and inhibits RANTES secretion. As an immunostimulant, it stimulates interferon production, enhances antibody formation, and stimulates phagocytosis.

It takes about 4 hours for licorice's glycyrrhizin to reach maximum serum concentration after oral ingestion; then it is slowly excreted, and eventually eliminated at 72 hours after ingestion. It stays in the body a long time.

Active Against

Arboviruses

Arthrinium sacchari

Bacillus coagulans

Bacillus megaterium

Bacillus stearothermophilus

Bacillus subtilis

Candida albicans

Chaetomium funicola

Clostridium sporogenes

Cytomegalovirus

Enterococcus faecalis

Enterococcus faecium

Enterotoxigenic
Escherichia coli

Enterovirus 71

Epstein-Barr virus

Haemophilus influenzae

Helicobacter pylori

Hepatitis B and C

Herpes simplex

HIV-1

Influenza A (various strains, H1N1, H2N2, H9N2, novel H1N1 [WT], oseltamivir-resistant novel H1N1, and so on)

Japanese encephalitis virus

Klebsiella pneumoniae

Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Newcastle disease virus

Plasmodium
spp.

Pseudorabies virus

Respiratory syncytial virus

Salmonella paratyphi

Salmonella typhi

Salmonella typhimurium

Sarcina lutea

SARS-related coronavirus (FFM1, FFM2)

Shigella boydii

Shigella dysentariae

Staphylococcus aureus

Streptococcus lactis

Streptococcus mutans

Streptococcus sobrinus

Toxocara canis

Trichophyton mentagrophytes

Trichophyton rubrum

Vaccinia virus

Varicella zoster virus

Vesicular stomatitis virus

Vibrio cholerae

Vibrio mimicus

Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Use to Treat

Use in cases of respiratory viral infections and oral bacterial problems (for gums and mucous membranes). Use as an adjunct for bacterial infections, especially of the GI tract and respiratory tract, especially if there is cramping or ulceration. But primarily, in the context of this book, use licorice as a synergist in systemic bacterial infections.

Note:
Licorice should be used in combination rather than alone. See Side Effects and Contraindications (page 217). I would not recommend that this plant be used as a single medicinal.

Other Uses

As a sweetener.
Glycyrrhiza glabra
is also a potent plant remediator for reclaiming saline-heavy soils.

Licorice has been used as a food plant and medicinal for between four and five millennia. The genus name,
Glycyrrhiza
, is Greek in origin,
glykys
meaning “sweet” and
rhiza
“root.” The root's main constituent, glycyrrhizin, is 50 times sweeter than sugar. All the species have been used in medicine in any geographical region they grew and by any culture that had access to them.

Variously known as
mulethi
,
yasti-madhu
,
jasti-madhu
,
madhuka
,
mithiladki
, and so on. The plant is considered cooling, tonic, demulcent, expectorant, diuretic, and a gentle laxative. It's used for treating poisoning, ulcers, diseases of the liver, bladder, and lungs. Any inflammation in the mucous membranes anywhere in the body. For cough, sore throat, hoarseness, fever, and as a general tonic in debility from long-term disease conditions, especially those that are pulmonary or of the GI tract.

Licorice is considered a synergist, a specific additive to other herbal formulations.

Known as
gancao
in Chinese medicine, licorice has been used in China for three thousand years or so. The herb is considered sweet and mild, to regulate the function of the stomach, and to be qi tonifying, lung demulcent, expectorant, latent-heat cleansing, antipyretic, detoxicant, anti-inflammatory and spleen invigorative and is a synergist in many herbal formulations. The herb is used in pharyngolaryngitis, cough, palpitations, stomachache due to asthenia, peptic ulcer, pyogenic infection, and ulceration of the skin.