Why Scientists Are Suddenly Rethinking Licorice Root

How New 2025 Research Is Turning an Old Root into a Modern Healing Tool

For decades, licorice was treated like a joke — a candy flavor, a dusty herb in the back of a health-food store, something doctors waved away with a smirk. But while modern medicine was busy chasing synthetic fixes, this old root kept doing quiet, unglamorous work in the background.

Now, in 2025, controlled studies are forcing an uncomfortable reckoning: licorice isn’t just “alternative” — it’s accelerating burn healing, dialing down inflammation, easing reflux, reshaping metabolism, and even interrupting the sugar-driven chemistry that ages tissues from the inside out. And the most unsettling part? Much of this works even at low doses, in simple formulations, without the heavy side-effect baggage we’ve come to accept as normal.

It’s true: new research in 2025 is changing this old-school image fast. In fact, new studies are pulling this humble root into the spotlight, not as a folk curiosity, but as a serious player in wound healing, metabolic balance, gut protection, oral care, and even the chemistry of aging itself.

And what’s shocking isn’t just what licorice appears to do, but how it does it: gently, locally, and often more effectively at lower doses than higher ones. Across burns, bellies, blood sugar, and biological wear-and-tear, licorice is starting to look less like an herbal hammer and more like a biological dimmer switch… quietly turning down inflammation so the body can do what it already knows how to do.

Licorice Enters the Burn Ward

To begin, picture a second-degree burn. The skin is red, swollen, wet, and painfully sensitive. Every brush of fabric stings. Healing is slow, and infection or scarring always lurks in the background.

In 2025, researchers brought licorice root straight into this hostile environment by embedding powdered Glycyrrhiza glabra into soft, cooling hydrogels. These gels were then placed directly onto standardized burns in animal models — not as a pill or tea, but as a local, hands-on therapy.

Different concentrations were tested: 5%, 10%, and 20%. And in a finding that echoes a growing theme in plant medicine, the lowest dose often worked best. The 5% licorice hydrogel consistently promoted faster wound closure, reduced inflammatory markers, and produced new tissue that more closely resembled healthy, uninjured skin.

Instead of overwhelming damaged tissue, the modest dose seemed to create a calm, cooperative healing environment — cooling the burn, dialing down excessive inflammation, and letting skin cells reorganize themselves efficiently.

From Lab Bench to Bandage

Just as important, these licorice-infused hydrogels didn’t stress the rest of the body. Even as healing accelerated, researchers found no signs of systemic toxicity. That matters, because it aligns closely with earlier human trials where a 5% licorice hydrogel helped second-degree burns improve faster than standard gels.

By day 15, patients using licorice dressings showed less redness, less burning, reduced inflammation, and better overall wound appearance. The image that emerges is surprisingly practical: a clear, slightly sticky gel sheet, cool against damaged skin, quietly tamping down inflammatory chaos while supporting the skin’s natural repair machinery.

For small burns — the kind people get in kitchens, workshops, or off-grid homesteads — licorice-based dressings start to look like a realistic, low-tech option that soothes and speeds healing without adding chemical burden.

Trimming Fat and Reviving Fertility

Meanwhile, 2025 research took licorice in a very different direction — deep into metabolism. In one study, obese mice fed a high-fat diet received oral licorice root extract for four weeks at two different doses. The results read like a metabolic before-and-after snapshot.

After treatment, licorice-fed mice weighed less, carried less visceral fat, and showed lower blood glucose, total cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol. Waist measurements shrank. Body-mass equivalents dropped.

But the surprise came at the higher dose. Around 686 mg/kg didn’t just improve metabolic markers — it also increased reproductive organ size and improved semen parameters. In other words, licorice appeared to restore some of the hormonal and metabolic signaling that obesity had disrupted.

This points to a deeper pattern: metabolic dysfunction doesn’t just store fat; it suppresses fertility, energy, and hormonal balance. Licorice may be nudging those systems back toward alignment.

What This Means for Humans

Of course, mice aren’t people. No responsible researcher pretends otherwise. These findings are proof-of-concept, not an invitation to self-experiment with massive doses of licorice root.

Still, when this 2025 animal work is viewed alongside earlier human trials — where licorice extracts combined with calorie-restricted diets improved weight, glucose control, and lipid profiles — the picture sharpens. Licorice seems to push metabolism away from fat storage and toward balance.

At the same time, the caution flags remain firmly planted. Glycyrrhizin, a key compound in licorice, can raise blood pressure and disrupt electrolyte balance in susceptible people. That’s why many current clinical efforts are focusing on deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL) or modified extracts that preserve benefits while minimizing cardiovascular strain.

In practical terms, 2025’s metabolic data add excitement — but also urgency — for well-designed human trials that clearly define safe forms, doses, and durations.

Calming Reflux Without Killing Acid

Then there’s the gut — specifically, that familiar burning tunnel between stomach and throat. In 2025, a new report highlighted a proprietary licorice root extract aimed at easing gastroesophageal reflux symptoms.

Rather than blocking acid like conventional drugs, licorice works differently. Think of it not as a shutdown switch, but as a protective blanket. It encourages mucus production, soothes irritated tissue, dampens local inflammation, and helps the esophagus withstand constant exposure to stomach contents.

Because this research involves proprietary formulations and early clinical data, it doesn’t rewrite reflux guidelines. But it does translate licorice’s long folk reputation for gut soothing into modern language — symptom scores, validated questionnaires, and measurable improvements.

Safer Smiles with Licorice Gel

As if burns, bellies, and body fat weren’t enough, 2025 research also brought licorice into the mouth. Scientists tested licorice extract gel for safety in oral-care applications, evaluating cytotoxicity, irritation potential, and tissue compatibility.

The results were encouraging. Under tested conditions, licorice gel showed a safety profile consistent with further development for mouthwashes, gels, and adjunct dental therapies. Researchers emphasized the need for animal and clinical trials, but this step matters.

Earlier studies have already linked licorice’s antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties to improved oral health. This 2025 safety work lays the groundwork for gentler, plant-based dental products that don’t rely exclusively on harsh antiseptics.

Fermented Licorice vs. Sugar Damage

Finally, 2025 research zoomed all the way down to the molecular level, examining how fermented licorice extract interacts with advanced glycation end products — AGEs — one of the quiet drivers of aging and chronic disease.

AGEs form when sugars bind to proteins and fats, stiffening tissues, fueling inflammation, and accelerating degeneration. Glyoxal-derived AGEs are especially damaging.

By fermenting licorice extract and enhancing it with beta-glucosidase biotransformation, researchers appeared to boost its ability to neutralize these sugar-driven compounds and reduce inflammatory signaling downstream.

This is still preclinical work, but it opens a compelling door: not just using licorice as it grows, but “training” it through fermentation to better protect cells from the slow burn of glycation that underlies diabetes complications, vascular damage, and premature aging.

An Old Root Finds Its Modern Role

Taken together, the 2025 licorice studies sketch a surprisingly coherent arc. On the skin, licorice-infused hydrogels cool burns and speed closure. In metabolism, oral extracts trim visceral fat and revive reproductive health in obese models. In the gut and mouth, carefully formulated preparations soothe tissue and pass early safety tests. And at the cellular level, fermented licorice intercepts the chemical reactions that harden tissues over time.

None of this gives licorice a free pass as a high-dose, long-term supplement — especially for people with blood-pressure concerns. But it does show something important: when modern science meets ancient plants with respect for dosing, formulation, and context, old roots can find new relevance.

In 2025, licorice root is no longer just a flavor or a footnote. It’s becoming a carefully tuned tool — one that fits just as comfortably into clinical research labs as it does into thoughtful, self-reliant health strategies built on calm biology rather than brute force.

Ask your doctor if licorice root is right for you.

Source: https://www.offthegridnews.com/how-to/why-scientists-are-suddenly-rethinking-licorice-root/