an agent for protecting liver function average yield and standard deviation of the extract obtained in the above manner were respectively 27 0 g and 1 03 g chinese licorice extract was obtained in the same manner as the aforementioned example 2 average yield and standard deviation of the extract obtained in the above manner were respectively 28 5 g and 2 18 g b secondly experiments conducted to confirm the effects of the extract obtained in the aforementioned examples are explained the following experiment was performed to examine the effects of inhibiting cytokine production and lowering got activity of the extracts obtained in example 1 and comparative example 1 the experiment procedures are shown in fig1 male mice of ddy system japan slc inc each of which weighs 18 20 g are prepared for the experiment the mice are divided into six groups namely a b c d e and f each consisting of eight mice 5 mg of propionivacterium acnes suspension was injected into the vein of the aforementioned mice respectively to cause hepatopathy a solvent without drugs was injected into the mice in group a brazilian licorice extract obtained in example 1 was injected into the abdominal cavity of the mice in groups b and c four times in total that is one day three days five days and seven days after the injection of the propionivacterium acnes suspension in step ii the dosage per one injection was 25 mg respectively chinese licorice extract obtained in comparative example 1 was injected into the abdominal cavity of the mice in groups d and e.