Ingredient science ยท molecules and skin
Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate
Dipotassium glycyrrhizate is a licorice-derived skin-conditioning ingredient used in moisturising and comfort-focused skincare. Research explores how it influences inflammatory signalling and skin-cell behaviour. Its long name identifies a particular purified salt, making it more specific than the broader phrase โlicorice extract.โ
What the name tells you
Dipotassium glycyrrhizate is a salt of glycyrrhizic acid, also called glycyrrhizin. โDipotassium glycyrrhizinateโ is another name used for the ingredient. Its recognised cosmetic functions include skin conditioning and retaining moisture in cosmetic products. These function labels describe its role; they are not a measured percentage improvement in skin hydration. [1]
A large ring-containing region is linked to two glucuronic-acid units.
The โdipotassiumโ name identifies two potassium counterions associated with the salt.
The purified salt can dissolve in water; it is distinct from a crude root powder.
A counterion is an oppositely charged ion that balances charge. Salt formation changes the acidโs ionic form without making the ingredient into an unrelated botanical. It is also different from cutting the linked sugar-derived units away: that would change the larger molecule itself.
From licorice root to a defined ingredient
A manufacturerโs process description identifies extraction and purification of Glycyrrhiza glabra root as the route to a white or nearly white, water-soluble powder. Its structural drawing retains the linked glucuronic-acid units. Extraction selects material from the root; purification separates a more narrowly defined constituent from the mixture. [2]
Another primary manufacturer identifies G. glabra, G. uralensis and G. inflata as possible licorice sources. This illustrates why the cosmetic name is more informative about the final compound than about one universal plant origin. The botanical starting material and the isolated ingredient are related, but they describe different stages of production. [3]
For a reader, the useful distinction is between a mixture and an identified constituent. A root extract can contain several kinds of compounds, while a purified salt concentrates one chemical identity. The two names can therefore appear together on an ingredient list without being duplicates.
Why researchers investigate skin comfort
Lee and colleagues used keratinocytes and reconstructed skin exposed to IL-4 and IL-13, signalling proteins that produced dermatitis-like features in the model. Dipotassium glycyrrhizinate reduced several associated gene-expression changes and cytokine releases, and improved features of the reconstructed tissue. The work supplies a mechanism-focused rationale for studying this ingredient in skin care. [4]
What a reconstructed-skin model can show
This was a laboratory skin-equivalent experiment, not a trial treating adults with eczema. It examined a deliberately induced set of responses rather than all aspects of the disease. The research team included Amorepacific scientists. Clinical symptom relief needs its own human evidence. [4]
Researchers expose cells or reconstructed tissue to a defined stimulus.
They measure released signals, gene activity or tissue features.
A human study asks whether a relevant preparation changes comfort or another skin outcome.
A cytokine is a signalling protein that lets cells influence one another. Measuring less of one signal is an experimental finding; feeling less itch is a personโs experience. Both can be useful endpoints, but they need to be connected carefully rather than treated as synonyms.
A small human study examined immediate discomfort
Yashiki and colleagues studied six women selected for reproducible discomfort with a lactic-acid challenge. Cream containing 5% lactic acid and 0.2% dipotassium glycyrrhizate produced a trend toward lower itching-discomfort scores than the cream without the salt. The study is relevant to sensory comfort, but its result is narrower than a general claim that the ingredient prevents irritation. [5]
The test conditions matter
The women averaged 42.2 years. They tested both preparations in alternating order after washing and acclimatisation; sensations were scored over five minutes. The authors worked for the ingredient manufacturer. The same paper investigated nerve-growth-factor expression in cultured skin cells, but that does not establish that the brief human response resulted from altered nerve growth. [5]
A challenge test deliberately creates a specific sensation so that researchers can compare responses under controlled conditions. It is different from following ordinary daily use for weeks. A very small selected group can reveal a question worth studying without describing everyone who calls their skin sensitive.
A moisturiser trial measured water, not just sensation
A 2026 split-leg trial followed 35 adults with dry skin using a cream containing panthenol, niacinamide and dipotassium glycyrrhizate. After 28 days of twice-daily application, the treated leg had greater measured hydration and lower water loss than the untreated leg. This is useful evidence for the complete moisturiser, not an isolated effect of the licorice-derived salt. [6]
How much can be attributed to the ingredient?
The study had no matching vehicle cream and participants knew which leg was treated. Thirty-one participants were women, and the trial was funded by Lacer. Moisturising ingredients, the base and their combination all remain possible contributors; the design cannot divide the result among them. [6]
Hydration and water loss are related but distinct measurements. Hydration testing estimates water in the outer skin, while transepidermal water loss measures water moving out through the surface. A product may influence both, but neither measurement by itself tells us which ingredient caused the change.
What to carry into an ingredient list
The most useful picture is a defined, water-compatible licorice constituent with a skin-conditioning role and a developing comfort-focused research story. The evidence ranges from controlled laboratory signalling experiments to a tiny sensory challenge and a complete-moisturiser trial. Their different questions explain why the results should be read together rather than collapsed into one sweeping โsoothingโ claim.
The purified salt is not the same as every licorice constituent used in pigmentation research. Its presence also does not make a whole formula suitable for every sensitive skin. Persistent burning, itching or a recurring rash deserves attention to the complete product and, when needed, clinical assessment.
Sources to follow
- COSMILE Europe: Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate. Ingredient identity and cosmetic functions.
- Dipotassium glycyrrhizinate technical-scientific report. Primary extraction, structure and physical properties; January 2014.
- Dipotassium glycyrrhizinate botanical sources. Primary manufacturer species and ingredient identity; promotional clinical summary not used as an independent trial.
- Lee and colleagues, 2019. Primary skin-equivalent study; DOI 10.1007/s00403-018-1883-z.
- Yashiki and colleagues, volume 50, 2016. Primary Japanese full paper; DOI 10.5107/sccj.50.334. Online record released in 2017.
- Morgado-Carrasco and colleagues, 2026. Primary 28-day combination-moisturiser trial.
