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How soon we forget. Most of you must be too young to remember the laetrile controversy, where things got so heated that some state health departments tried to ban sale of apricot kernels in health food stores, and some cancer patients fled to mexico to get laetrile treatments.
There are some things we need to know so we don't get hysterical about cyanide in foods. Vitamin B-12 (cyanocobalamin) is a cyanide compound. You have to have this in your diet. If defficient in it for too long, you will suffer permanent, irreversible nerve damage. Vitamin B-12 is the one vitamin vegans have to be careful about, because there are no sources of this nutrient in vegetables (except for torula yeast). You need only a trace amount, and taking a vitamin supplement that includes B-12 assures adequate intake.
The cyanide compound in apple seeds, apricot kernels, and the seed kernels in plums, cherries, peaches, etc., is called amygdalin or laetrile. It releases trace amounts of cyanide on hydrolysis by intestinal bacteria. This is very seldom dangerous for anyone, though under certain conditions (like eating alot of apple seeds or apricot kernels, especially on an empty stomach) you might feel a little sick briefly. Deaths have resulted on extremely rare occasions.
In 1950, Dr. Ernest T. Krebs perceived that the cyanide that was safely bound in the molecules of laetrile should be released by enzymes present at the site of malignant cancer cells; the free cyanide, though in amounts too little to have an adverse effect on healthy body cells, should destroy the more vulnerable cancer cells, he figured. He called laetrile "vitamin B-17," and thought for a while that cancer might be a defficiency disease caused by insufficient laetrile in the diet.
For about 20 years controversy raged back and forth over whether this was a legitimate cancer treatment. Most medical tests since then have shown that it does not work the way Dr. Krebs hoped, and few people today take laetrile seriously as a cancer cure.
Although, if you have cancer and want to try it, all you need are the pits from some apricots. Get the kernels out of them by cracking the pit. The kernels look like almonds. They are called "bitter almonds," because they have a bitter taste. It is believed that regular almonds were bred over centuries from apricots, to get rid of the bitter taste. This also resulted in a great reduction in the amount of amygdalin in almonds.
Those of you who remember your murder mysteries may recall that people who have been killed by cyanide poisoning have a scent something like almonds about their mouth and nose.
Few medical authorities see any reason to be concerned about eating a few apple seeds or apricot kernels if you want to. They taste so bitter, no one in their right mind would want to eat very much.
Posts: 3742 | Registered: Dec 2001
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quote: About the only way you can actually ruin into a problem with the toxicity of apple seeds is if you save the seeds from about a bushel of apples and eat them all at once.
This happened to a friend of a friend. Years ago, when we were talking about apples one time, she told about a friend of hers who *liked* apple seeds... REALLY liked apple seeds... and he saved up a lot of them to eat as a birthday treat...
I don't remember any other details from her story, but it really did happen -- she was upset by her friend's death, and made a point of mentioning it to other people to try and keep it from happening to anyone else.
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
bernie ate my apple again. I have to hide those better. He ate almost the whole thing. INCLUDING THE SEEDS!
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I guess there is always someone who will hanker to any kind of taste. Apricot kernels and apple seeds taste pretty bitter to me, and apparently this is so for most people. Almonds were bred for good reason. They taste a whole lot better than apricot kernels. Some people believe that almonds are the most healthful kind of nut available today. Higher protein to fat ratio, or something.
Posts: 3742 | Registered: Dec 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Ron Lambert: It is believed that regular almonds were bred over centuries from apricots, to get rid of the bitter taste.
I doubt that very much. Almonds are attested to in biblical times, and apricots aren't attested to until much later.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Lisa, I found this on the history of cultivation of apricots:
quote:The center of diversity of the apricot is northeastern China near the Russian border (in the Great Wall area). From there it spread west throughout central Asia. Cultivation in China dates back 3000 years.
quote:Almond and related species are native to the Mediterranean climate region of the Middle East (Pakistan eastward to Syria and Turkey). The almond and its close relative, the peach, probably evolved from the same ancestral species in south-central Asia.
Almonds were domesticated at least by 3000 BC, and perhaps much earlier since wild almonds have been unearthed in Greek archeological sites dating to 8000 BC.
And here is this on the history of cultivation of peaches:
quote:Peaches were probably the first fruit crop domesticated in China about 4000 years ago. Cultivars grown today derive largely from ecotypes native to southern China, an area with climate similar to that of the southeastern USA, a major peach growing region.
According to the second source, almonds are most closely related to peaches. So maybe the speculation that almonds were bred from apricots is mistaken. Almonds and apricots share the subgenus Amygdalus. Apparently that is where the name amygdalin comes from, as a name for the cyanide-containing compound in the almond-like kernels.
Posts: 3742 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
i *like* the taste of apple seeds. I sometimes peeled and ate them just because i liked the taste. Also apricot seeds. Love those.
Posts: 5700 | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Ron Lambert: So maybe the speculation that almonds were bred from apricots is mistaken.
<nod> Also, the sources you posted put almonds 5000 years ago, and the other fruits 3000 or 4000 years ago.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Apparently, cyanide accumulates. Which means that in effect, I did eat a very large amount, even if it wasn't at one sitting.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
The body can rid itself of less-than-toxic doses of cyanide, but it takes time -- at least weeks, and with larger amounts, months or longer -- to do so.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
So... how do you accelerate the process? I'm exhausted, but that could be just exhaustion. My doctor thinks I may have sleep apnea (I'm going in for a sleep study on Wednesday night).
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There are chelating agents that are used to remove cyanide from the body.
quote: ��Hydroxocobalamine –Direct chelating agent –used in Europe and Australia –5g in 100 mL (500 mg in children) –Give with thiosulfate? –Does not cause methemoglobinemia or hypotension ��Dicobalt-EDTA –Used in Europe, Israel, Australia –Dose -300-600 mg –Adverse effects: hypotension, dysrhythmias, angioedema –Worse if CN-not present
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