Food and Drug Administration warns.“It’s more than licorice sticks. It could be jelly beans, licorice teas, a lot of things over the counter.
Even some beers, like Belgian beers, have this compound in it,” as do some chewing tobaccos, said Dr. Robert Eckel, a University of Colorado cardiologist and former American Heart Association president.
He had no role in the Massachusetts man’s care.The death was clearly an extreme case. The man had switched from red, fruit-flavored twists to the black licorice version of the candy a few weeks before his death last year.
He collapsed while having lunch at a fast-food restaurant. Doctors found he had dangerously low potassium, which led to heart rhythm and other problems.