Licorice is a plant with great medicinal value, which is used by Chinese and Western medicine. Western medicine has been using licorice as an expectorant, antitussive and sweet additive since ancient times. In the ancient Chinese pharmacology “Shen Nong’s Materia Medica”, licorice is described as a medicine for strengthening bones and muscles, increasing physical strength and treating wounds, and it is listed as the top grade.

In traditional Chinese medicine, licorice is classified as heart, lung, spleen and stomach meridian; it has the effects of replenishing spleen and nourishing qi, clearing heat and detoxifying, expelling phlegm and relieving cough, relieving cough and pain, and reconciling various medicines. It is used to treat weak spleen and stomach, tiredness, fatigue, shortness of heart, palpitations, sputum, cough and phlegm, abdominal pain and extremity pain, carbuncle swollen sore, relieve drug toxicity and potency. The dosage is 1.5-9mg.

Studies have shown that licorice can inhibit monoamine oxidase, inhibit aldose reductase that causes diabetes, relieve spasm and analgesia, prevent and treat viral hepatitis, treat senile osteoporosis, resist leishmania, resist cancer, and fight against AIDS virus Etc.

Its effect is reflected in whitening and sun protection.

The whitening effect of licorice extract is mainly to inhibit the activity of melanin by inhibiting the activity of tyrosinase and dopachrome tautomerase (TRP-2) and hindering the polymerization of 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHl) Formed to achieve the effect of whitening the skin.

In the extract of licorice, the component with sun protection effect is generally a flavonoid compound. Due to the conjugation of the molecular structure of licorice flavonoids, it shows strong absorption of ultraviolet light and visible light. Molecules that have absorbed high-energy ultraviolet light transition from the ground state to the activated state, and then return from the activated state to the ground state, releasing harmless low-energy rays. Compared with synthetic sunscreens, licorice extracts used as sunscreens do not require the addition of antioxidants in the formulation, will not irritate the skin, and have strong absorption capacity.