Mulethi (Licorice Root): Skin, Voice Benefits and the BP Warning
Mulethi is licorice root in English (spelt liquorice in Britain): the sweet, fibrous yellow root of Glycyrrhiza glabra that sits in every pansari’s tray and in half the “skin whitening” packs on the market. Mulethi benefits are real but narrow, and the root has a safety story most sellers skip: taken regularly, its sweet compound pushes blood pressure up and potassium down.
Quick facts
- Names: licorice or liquorice root; mulethi, mulathi, mulhathi (Urdu/Hindi), jethimadh (Gujarati), yashtimadhu (Sanskrit), asl-us-soos (Arabic/Unani), rubb-us-soos for the thick extract
- Plant and part: Glycyrrhiza glabra, a legume; the dried root and underground runners
- Two key compounds: glycyrrhizin (the sweetness, and the blood pressure problem) and glabridin (the skin-pigment compound)
- Forms: whole stick, powder, chewing stick, thick extract, standardised cosmetic extract, and DGL (glycyrrhizin removed)
- Safety flag: HIGH for regular swallowing; skin use is low risk with a patch test
- Price signal: cheap by weight; the cost is in the time spent, not the root
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What mulethi is, and which part you are buying
Licorice is a bushy perennial of the pea family grown across Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia and parts of Pakistan and India. The roots and long horizontal runners are dug after three or four years, washed, dried and cut into the sticks you see at the shop. Chew a piece and the sweetness arrives late and lasts: that is glycyrrhizin, a compound many times sweeter than sugar. The faint bitterness and the yellow colour come from flavonoids, of which glabridin is the one the cosmetics trade cares about.
Unani medicine has used asl-us-soos for a very long time as a soothing, moistening herb for the throat and chest, and the Latin name itself comes from the Greek for “sweet root”. Our existing posts cover how the tea is made, the hoarse voice routine and the tea choices for high blood pressure; this page is the plant itself and what it can and cannot do.
The pansari’s check: colour and the length of the sweetness
Break a stick. The inside should be bright yellow, almost mustard, and fibrous, with a sweetness that builds slowly and stays on the tongue for a minute or more. Glycyrrhizin and the yellow flavonoids fade together as the root ages, so a stick that is grey or brownish inside, faintly sour or musty, or sweet for only a second is old stock. It will do nothing harmful, it will simply be weak. Powder is harder to judge: choose one that is pale yellow and smells sweet, not dusty, and buy a small quantity from a shop that sells it quickly. Any “mulethi powder” that is white has been cut with starch or is not mulethi.
Mulethi for skin: the pigmentation claim, honestly
The famous claim
Face packs, serums and WhatsApp recipes promise that mulethi “whitens” skin, erases dark spots and gives a glow in a week.
What is actually behind it
Glabridin, the main compound in the oil-soluble fraction of licorice root, blocks tyrosinase, the enzyme skin cells use to make melanin. That was first shown in cultured pigment cells, and in the same 1998 work a cream with glabridin reduced UV-induced darkening and redness on guinea-pig skin. Later cosmetic trials in people are small, use purified extracts at fixed strengths, and report a modest evening of patchy pigmentation over weeks, not a change of skin colour. Glabridin also has an anti-inflammatory action in the lab, which is why licorice extract turns up in products for redness.
Our honest take
Plausible, modest, slow: for uneven tone, post-acne marks and melasma, a licorice-based product used daily alongside sunscreen can make a visible but small difference over two or three months. Marketing: “whitening” or changing your natural colour. No herb does that, and products that visibly do are usually hiding a steroid, hydroquinone or mercury. The sibling page on chandan paste reaches the same verdict for the same reason.
The chemistry most recipes get backwards
Glycyrrhizin dissolves in water; glabridin barely does. So a mulethi decoction or tea carries the blood-pressure-raising compound and almost none of the skin compound, while a glabridin-rich preparation needs the root itself, or an oil or alcohol extraction, not a water boil. For a home face pack that means using the fine root powder mixed into a carrier (yoghurt, milk, honey or a plain cream), not the strained water from boiling sticks. And it means drinking mulethi water “for glow” is the one route that gives you the risk and skips the benefit.
Household use for the face: a teaspoon of fine mulethi powder stirred into a tablespoon of plain yoghurt, left 10 to 15 minutes, rinsed with plain water, two or three times a week at most. Patch test first on the inner forearm for 24 hours. Mulethi does not make skin burn in sunlight the way lemon does, but anyone chasing pigmentation changes needs daily sunscreen or the spots simply return. Stop if the skin stings, itches or turns red.
Cough, throat and voice: the oldest use
Hakeems class asl-us-soos as moderately hot and moist, a mulattif (softener) for a dry, scratchy throat and a hard cough. Singers, qawwals and teachers chewed a sliver before performing. Ayurveda calls it yashtimadhu and gives it the same soothing (demulcent) role for the voice and chest, often with honey or warm milk.
The soothing feeling is real and immediate: the root’s mucilage-like sweetness coats an irritated throat and the sweetness triggers saliva, which is why a chewed piece feels better than a tablet. It does not shorten a viral cough, and a cough beyond three weeks, with blood, fever or breathlessness, needs a doctor rather than a root. Keep occasional throat use to a few days at a time; the problems below come from weeks of daily intake, not from a sore throat week.
Men, women, hair: the claims we are asked about
Searches for “mulethi for men” usually mean testosterone, and the honest news is the opposite of the marketing: in small human studies licorice mildly lowered male hormone levels, and the compound has oestrogen-like activity in animals. That is a reason for men to avoid regular intake, not to seek it. For women, the “hormone balancing” and PCOS claims rest on tiny or animal studies and are outweighed by the blood pressure problem. For hair, mulethi paste on the scalp is a mild soothing wash with no effect on growth; it will not darken grey hair.
Forms, and why DGL is a different product
| Form | What it carries | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Whole stick | Everything, glycyrrhizin and glabridin | Chewing for the throat; boiling for tea |
| Powder | Everything, finely ground | Face packs, in Unani compounds |
| Thick extract (rubb-us-soos) | Concentrated glycyrrhizin | Confectionery, some cough mixtures; highest risk per spoon |
| Cosmetic extract | Glabridin, glycyrrhizin mostly removed | Serums and creams for pigmentation |
| DGL | Glycyrrhizin removed | Sold for stomach comfort; no blood pressure effect, no skin claim |
Deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL) was created precisely to avoid the blood pressure and potassium problem. It is not “stronger mulethi”; it is mulethi with its most active compound removed, which is why it has no skin claim and tastes far less sweet.
The blood pressure and potassium problem, in plain words
Glycyrrhizin blocks an enzyme in the kidney (11-beta-HSD2) that normally switches off cortisol. Unopposed, cortisol acts like the salt hormone aldosterone: the body holds sodium and water and dumps potassium. The result, after days to weeks of regular intake, is higher blood pressure, swelling, muscle weakness and cramps, and in bad cases heart rhythm problems. A 2023 review of 104 published cases found high blood pressure and low potassium in most, and noted that people with existing hypertension, kidney disease or electrolyte problems are the most vulnerable, with wide differences in individual sensitivity.
Regulators have set limits, which we quote as limits and not as a recommendation: the EU Scientific Committee on Food considered it prudent that regular intake of glycyrrhizinic acid should not exceed 100 mg a day, a provisional figure, and noted that the effects come from repeated, not single, intake. Dried root may contain anywhere from a few percent to much more glycyrrhizin depending on origin and age, so there is no safe household conversion to “sticks per day”. The sensible reading is simple: mulethi is for occasional use, and daily use for weeks is the pattern behind nearly every case report.
Do not take mulethi regularly if you have high blood pressure, heart failure or any heart rhythm problem, kidney disease, low potassium, or liver disease. Do not combine regular use with diuretics (water tablets), digoxin, steroid tablets or inhalers in high dose, or laxatives, all of which deepen the potassium loss. Avoid it in pregnancy: the blood pressure effect is the last thing a pregnancy needs, and the oestrogen-like activity is another reason. Skip it while breastfeeding unless a doctor agrees. Children should have it, if at all, as an occasional throat sliver, never as a daily tonic. Stop and see a doctor if, during regular use, you notice swelling of feet, headaches, palpitations, unusual weakness or cramps, or a home blood pressure reading above about 135/85. Taken by mouth, the pack or a qualified practitioner sets the amount; this page gives none. On skin, patch test, keep away from eyes, and treat any product that lightens skin fast as suspect for hidden steroids or mercury.
Real vs fake and old stock
Outright fakes are rare because the root is cheap; the problems are age and dilution. Grey, sour or scentless sticks are years old. Powder is sometimes bulked with wheat starch or chalk: real powder is pale yellow and sweet on the tongue within seconds, a white, chalky, barely sweet powder is cut. “Mulethi extract” in a face-pack label tells you nothing about glabridin content; the cosmetic trade standardises glabridin and often names it, so look for glabridin on the ingredient list if pigmentation is the goal. There is no reliable home test for glycyrrhizin strength; only a lab assay settles it.
Mulethi questions people search
Mulethi in English?
Licorice root, spelt liquorice in British English. The plant is Glycyrrhiza glabra; the dried root and runners are the part sold.
Mulethi ke fayde aur nuksan?
Benefits: a genuinely soothing chew for a scratchy throat and a slow, modest evening of skin pigmentation when the powder or a glabridin product is used on the face with sunscreen. Harms: with regular intake, raised blood pressure, swelling and low potassium, plus hormone-like effects; it is unsuitable in pregnancy and with heart or kidney disease.
Does mulethi whiten skin?
No. Its glabridin can slowly even out dark patches and post-acne marks, but it does not change your natural skin colour. Products that visibly lighten skin fast usually contain a hidden steroid, hydroquinone or mercury.
Mulethi face pack side effects?
Mild stinging, redness or itching in sensitive skin, usually from the yoghurt or lemon added rather than the root. Patch test for 24 hours, keep it out of the eyes, and stop if irritation appears. It does not make skin photosensitive, but pigmentation work needs daily sunscreen anyway.
Mulethi benefits for voice?
A chewed sliver coats and moistens a dry throat and brings saliva, which is why singers and speakers use it before performing. It does not repair strained vocal cords; voice rest does. Our hoarse-voice post gives the routine.
Mulethi for cough: how is it taken?
Traditionally as a chewed stick, or as a mild tea, for a few days of a dry, tickly cough. Our tea recipe post covers the method. A cough lasting over three weeks, or with fever, blood or breathlessness, needs a doctor.
Mulethi benefits for men?
None that the evidence supports. In the small amount of human data available, licorice mildly lowered testosterone, and it has oestrogen-like activity in animals, so men chasing hormone benefits should look elsewhere. Any “herbal” men’s product promising fast results may contain hidden prescription drugs.
Is mulethi good for hair?
As a soothing scalp rinse it is harmless; it does not grow hair or reverse greying. Claims about hair come from its anti-inflammatory flavonoids, which have not been tested for hair in people.
Licorice root side effects on blood pressure?
Regular intake raises blood pressure by making the body hold sodium and water while losing potassium. The effect builds over days to weeks and reverses after stopping. People already treated for hypertension are most affected.
Can I take mulethi daily?
Not as a routine. Daily use for weeks is the pattern behind nearly every published case of licorice-induced high blood pressure and low potassium. Keep it occasional, and skip it entirely if you have heart, kidney or blood pressure problems.
Mulethi in pregnancy?
Avoid it. Regular licorice intake adds to pregnancy blood pressure risk and the compound has hormone-like activity, so obstetric and herbal references advise against it. Occasional accidental exposure in a sweet is not a reason to panic, but do not use it as a remedy.
What is DGL and is it the same as mulethi?
DGL is licorice with the glycyrrhizin removed, sold mainly for stomach comfort. It does not raise blood pressure, but it also carries none of the sweetness or the skin claim. It is a processed product, not the pansari’s root.
How do I know if my mulethi is fresh?
Bright yellow inside, fibrous, and sweet on the tongue for a minute or more. Grey or brownish, sour-smelling or briefly sweet sticks are old. Fresh powder is pale yellow and clearly sweet; a white, chalky powder has been cut.
Is mulethi the same as jethimadh and yashtimadhu?
Yes. Jethimadh is the Gujarati name and yashtimadhu the Sanskrit and Ayurvedic one; asl-us-soos is the Unani and Arabic name. All refer to Glycyrrhiza glabra root.
Bottom line
Mulethi earns its place as a throat soother and as a slow, modest helper for uneven skin tone, provided the skin use relies on the powder or a glabridin product rather than boiled water. What it does not do is whiten skin, grow hair or help men’s hormones. The one fact every regular user should know is that the sweet compound raises blood pressure and lowers potassium with repeated intake, which is why this root belongs in occasional use and not in a daily cup. More on ingredients and honest skin verdicts in Skin and Beauty.
Sources
- Yokota T, Nishio H, Kubota Y, Mizoguchi M. The inhibitory effect of glabridin from licorice extracts on melanogenesis and inflammation. Pigment Cell Research, 1998. PMID 9870547
- Ceccuzzi G et al. Liquorice Toxicity: A Comprehensive Narrative Review. Nutrients, 2023. PMC10537237
- European Commission, Scientific Committee on Food. Opinion on glycyrrhizinic acid and its ammonium salt (100 mg/day provisional upper level). food.ec.europa.eu (PDF)
- Deutch MR et al. Bioactive Candy: Effects of Licorice on the Cardiovascular System. Foods, 2019. PMID 31615045