Australian doctors have warned of the dangers of herbal teas containing liquorice after a woman became severely hypertensive from drinking her homemade brew.

The 51-year-old woman presented to a Sydney hospital ED with a six-week history of headaches, nausea and vomiting and mild lower limb oedema, according to a case report in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Nepean Hospital consultant endocrinologist Dr Ravind Pandher and colleagues write that her hypertension and weakness was caused by liquorice-induced apparent mineralocorticoid excess (AME)

“She was not taking any prescribed medications but had been consuming a naturopath-prescribed herbal tea containing liquorice root, reportedly to assist with fertility,” Dr Pandher wrote.