Benefits
Digestive comfort in two trials of another supplier's DGL extract
Tested as GutGard, a flavonoid-rich deglycyrrhizinated licorice extract from another supplier, not BGG material. At 75 mg twice daily, 50 adults with functional dyspepsia had lower symptom scores than placebo at 15 and 30 days, and 200 adults with reflux symptoms had earlier heartburn and regurgitation relief over 28 days. Both were double-blind; the maker sponsored one and employed seven of the eleven authors of the other.
Lower glycyrrhizin exposure with deglycyrrhizinated licorice
Glycyrrhizin in native licorice causes sodium retention, potassium loss and raised blood pressure; in one study systolic pressure rose 3.1 to 14.4 mmHg. Deglycyrrhizinated extracts keep only a little: GutGard's specification caps glycyrrhizin at 0.5% or 3.0% depending on the trial, so 150 mg supplies under 5 mg, below the 10 mg a day described as safe. BGG's glycyrrhizinate salts and enoxolone are not DGL.
Mechanism of action
Anti-inflammatory activity in laboratory work
The functional dyspepsia trial report cites earlier laboratory work in which the GutGard extract inhibited both the COX and LOX inflammatory pathways. This is a proposed mechanism for digestive comfort, not an outcome measured in people, and it was shown for another supplier's extract, not BGG material.
Helicobacter pylori and a licorice flavonoid extract
The often quoted 56% versus 4% figure comes from a double-blind trial of GutGard, another supplier's extract, not BGG material: 107 adults with H. pylori infection took 150 mg once daily or placebo for 60 days, and the stool antigen test was negative in 56% versus 4% of the 100 analysed. That is an infection outcome, not a supplement benefit; an infection needs a doctor.
11β-HSD2 inhibition (native glycyrrhizin)
Glycyrrhizin is hydrolysed in the gut to glycyrrhetic acid, which inhibits 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2, the enzyme that inactivates cortisol. Cortisol then acts on the mineralocorticoid receptor, causing sodium and water retention, potassium loss, edema and raised blood pressure. Systolic pressure rose 3.1 to 14.4 mmHg at 75 to 540 mg glycyrrhetinic acid a day. Deglycyrrhizination removes most of the compound.
Clinical trials
Phase III single-centre double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial of GutGard, a flavonoid-rich deglycyrrhizinated licorice extract from another supplier (not BGG), 75 mg twice daily for 28 days; sponsored by the extract maker (Raj et al. 2025, Complement Med Res)
200 otherwise healthy adults aged 18 to 60 with reflux symptoms for at least a month and not using proton pump inhibitors (100 per group).
Better quality-of-life scores than placebo at day 28 (p=0.014) and earlier resolution of heartburn and regurgitation; gastric emptying did not differ. Only 82.5% were available at the last follow-up. This supports occasional heartburn relief, not treatment of reflux disease.
Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of GutGard, a flavonoid-rich deglycyrrhizinated licorice extract from another supplier (not BGG), 75 mg twice daily for 30 days; the maker generated the randomization sequence and employed seven of the eleven authors (Raveendra et al. 2012, Evid Based Complement Alternat Med)
50 adults with functional dyspepsia, 25 per group.
Total symptom scores and the short-form Nepean Dyspepsia Index fell more than on placebo at days 15 and 30 (P ≤ .05), and on the global assessment 14 of 25 on the extract were markedly improved against none on placebo. The extract was reported as well tolerated. A small single trial of another supplier's extract.