Liquorice: a treatment for all sorts?

Some 2400 years before the development of anaesthesia and the discovery that microorganisms can cause disease, the Greeks were writing about the healing properties of liquorice root. Its pharmacological uses have been recorded in European and Middle Eastern literature since that time. Today, liquorice is not only a staple of traditional medicine and holistic therapies, but is also being investigated for its metabolic, anticancer, and antiviral properties in many laboratories across the world.