I was reading a post on another thread [www.rawfoodsupport.com] that said:

Quote

Apple seeds contain arsenic and are unhealthy for humans, and they also taste bad to us.

This got me to thinking about the apple seed and raised some questions for me.
1) Could the human body use the small amount of arsenic in the apple seed for benefit to the body ? For example could the body inject it as a poison into something it didn't want like an invading bacteria ?
2) Is the apple seed's vitamin B17 useful to the body ? [www.vitaminb17.org]
3) how much apple seed could make a person feel badly ? Occasionally I have eaten the seeds from an apple and I have noticed no adverse effects.
4) Does anyone on the planet (besides me) eat an occasional apple seed and if so have you noticed any adverse effects ?

Yes. Lately I've been leaving a few in the apple before I blend and strain for my apple juice. It's really interesting for me to see your post today! I wasn't even thinking about arsenic. I look forward to reading the responses. But for me, no adverse impact. Intuitively I just started doing it - my body seems to need something from juicing the whole apple - seeds and all. :-)

I eat apples (Malus domestica) with their seeds (whole food style), chewed or juiced.. I like the taste.. no problems.

I've also eaten the seeds from related fruit trees (Genus: Malus) and bushes like crabapple (not a lot) and beach plumb. Beach plumbs are the size of a grape with relatively large pits which are time consuming to remove so I tried juicing them with the pits.. about a quart, the seeds maybe 1/2 cup of that.. it did not taste very good and made me naucious to boot.. enough to remember NOT to do that again.

So from experience with related fruit I'd say half a cup of the seeds will make me sick (or worse). I still eat whole apples with the seeds.

[plant.gardenbed.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2008 07:34PM by loeve.

Here are a couple of old posts from my file on Apple Seeds...

more about apple seeds
Author: flo (---.tmns.net.au)
Date: 03-25-01 06:59
Here are a few points from a book "Natural Sources: Vitamin B-17/Laetrile", Moira Timms and Zachariah Zar, 1978.
There is a vitamin nitriloside, a nontoxic cyanide found in a wide variety of seeds, fruits and grains.
A deficiency may lead to cancer.
In the presence of water and beta-glucosidase, the B-17 splits into cyanide and benzaldehyde, which are both toxic. Rhodanese is a protective enzyme.
Tumour cells are deficient in rhodanese, but it is found in abundance in every part of the body.
Fruit kernals and seeds contain the highest concentration of vitamin B-17 to be found in nature. An apple seed contains 2-3% nitroloside.
The seeds should be eaten with the whole fruit to balance the organic cyanide with rhodanese, which is found in the fruit flesh.
Vitamin B-12, cyanocobalamin, also contains cyanide.
[www.living-foods.com]
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
----------------------------------------
More about Laetrile (Vitamin B17/ Amygdalin)
John Rose (---.HSTN.splitrock.net)
Date: 03-25-01 09:44

Thanks flo, that was very interesting. Here's some more information on Laetrile (Vitamin B17/ Amygdalin) for those who are interested. I got this from the Alternative Cancer Therapies website at [www.mnwelldir.org]

Laetrile (Vitamin B17/ Amygdalin)

Ralph Moss left the Sloan-Kettering Institute when they refused to publish their findings on Laetrile. It didn’t work on all cancers, but it had stopped metastases 100% of the time. Many people take Laetrile in its natural state: bitter almonds and apricot pits. And many of these people end up in the emergency wards nearly poisoned to death. This is because they are not following the directions, or are taking the pits without any supervision. They contain cyanide. Here is how it works: cancer loves sugar. The sugar in the apricot pits surrounds cyanide. The cancer draws in the sugar, eats it, and releases the cyanide: sort of like a smart bomb. The problem with this is that some people take too much. While others take enough, but also have a diet high in sugar. Very simply put: you must stop all sugar consumption, cut back drastically on carbohydrates, and then take your apricot pits. Otherwise, you can do your body a great disservice, and not do anything to battle your cancer.

Peace and Love................John
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]

My personal take is that I do not choose to deliberately eat the seeds from most of my sweet fruit....but I certainly end up swallowing a few on occasion! I don't find most seeds appealing in taste, appearance or vitally sustaining. In nature, I imagine that eating fresh seeds was usually more work than it was worth (cores of many fruits are fibrous and difficult to penetrate).

-In any event, I don't think (certainly not in the short-term) that eating an entire fruit with seeds is harmful. Medium and long-term you will certainly have to monitor your own increasing or decreasing sense of feeling energetic and make those choices. Power and success to you!

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

apple seeds taste like granny's marzsipan.

I always eat the whole apple including most seeds. I've been doing that for 3 or 4 years and I'm still alive!

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

A few years ago I had a Quantum Biofeedback reading and one of the results was that my body needed to eat apple seeds. I think that is interesting, because one of the first things the operator asked me was whether I had ever been tested for cancer (this was two years after I completed my cancer treatments, so I don't know how she could have known, my hair was grown back, and I looked pretty normal). It was pretty amazing how many things they got right about my health.

So, I do add the apple, seeds and all to my smoothies (it also told me to eat papayas, apricots (nothing about the pits though), and some other things. But, that flax doesn't really agree with me, which is too bad because I love flax crackers.

So far, no cancer, but is that coincidence, raw food, apple seeds or any of the other stuff I do - who knows? Also, I don't know if apple seeds would be important unless you have a specific health reason, but they are probably harmless, despite the arsenic - just don't eat huge quantities by themselves.

Sapphire



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/2008 06:16PM by Sapphire.

It is my understanding(I think I posted on this subject elsewhere) that the cyanide amygdalin[B 17] is activated only in the presence of the enzyme beta glucosidase, emitted chiefly by cancer cells. One's rhodinase enzymes then automatically neutralize the action of the activated amygdalin, which in any case is not particularly attracted to healthy cells, and macrophages take it away. The Hunza peoples of Pakistan, from whom the Drs. Krebs got the idea for left-valent Laetrile; so effective and so famously blacklisted by the NIH, snacked on dozens of the raw apricot pits daily with no poisoning symptoms. I eat them by the handful and am OK. By the way, Duo, apple seeds taste like granny's marzipan because of this cyanide, which almonds and apple seeds have in common.

Tamukha Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is my understanding(I think I posted on this
> subject elsewhere) that the cyanide amygdalin is
> activated only in the presence of the enzyme beta
> glucosidase, emitted chiefly by cancer cells.
> One's rhodinase enzymes then automatically
> neutralize the action of the activated amygdalin,
> which in any case is not particularly attracted to
> healthy cells, and macrophages take it away. The
> Hunza peoples of Pakistan, from whom the Drs.
> Krebs got the idea for left-valent Laetrile; so
> effective and so famously blacklisted by the NIH,
> snacked on dozens of the raw apricot pits daily
> with no poisoning symptoms. I eat them by the
> handful and am OK. By the way, Duo, apple seeds
> taste like granny's marzipan because of this
> cyanide, which almonds and apple seeds have in
> common.

I wonder if Drs. Krebs ate the whole apricot or just the pits..

I found myself googling "marzipan" after Duo's post. Marzipan is made with a small amount of "bitter almond" along with common almond.

[en.wikipedia.org]
[en.wikipedia.org]

That taste is cyanide.. neat

I always loved cyanide... I mean, marzipan...

I just eat the apples. Some seeds get chewed, some get swallowed, some fall to the ground. It seems like everyone wins this way. =)

This cyanide question may not be as simple as it sounds. Apples are of the Genus Malus, and apricots of the Genus Prunus. Then there are different varieties of apricots, some with bitter seeds, and some sweet that can be used for flower or oil.. same with almonds. It's complicated..

"In plants, cyanides are usually bound to sugar molecules in the form of glycoside|cyanogenic glycosides and defend the plant against herbivores." [en.wikipedia.org]

I don't believe I know the taste of cyanide in the classic chemical sense, but that of cyanogenic glycocides, probably.

loeve,

The Hunza people grew apricots; it was their main crop. The apricots were eaten or processed for post-harvest use, and the pits that weren't used to propagate new apricot trees were cracked open for the seeds, which were then eaten the way Americans snack on peanuts. I don't know if the Dr. Krebs Senior and Junior ever partook of these themselves. I just know this food tradition, which seemed to correlate with there being virtually no incidence of cancer among the Hunza, struck the Drs as curious enough to look into as a therapy. And that is how the Laetrile formula was born. Voila!

Tamukha,

The Hunza people grow sweet and bitter varieties of apricot. The variety you are eating is almost certainly sweet since the bitter variety is "restricted" in the marketplace. However some of us may have a bitter variety growing in our backyard, or we may be wildcrafting various Malus and Prunus plants, both sweet and bitter and blending them in our Vitamixers and juicers seeds/pits and all (like me). It can make us sick.
..............................................................................

"In the 1970s and 1980s, amygdalin (Vitamin B17 or laetrile) was extracted from bitter apricot kernels and sold as a treatment for cancer. Whilst much research has been, and continues to be conducted in this area, this treatment raised concerns amongst officials regarding toxicity levels and as such the sale of bitter apricot kernels became restricted.

"What kind of apricot kernels are Tropical Wholefoods' apricot kernels?
Tropical Wholefoods supply sweet apricot kernels. Small amounts of amygdalin are still present in sweet apricot kernels as they are in almonds and the stones of other members of the genus prunus family eg the cherry.

"Is there a limit on the number of apricot kernels I should eat in a day?
Tropical Wholefoods recommend that no more than 350g of apricot kernels are consumed in the one day.

[www.firstray.com.au]

loeve

..correction: the "bitter" variety of apricot kernel is not restricted everywhere. Some health food stores carry them and you can get them on the internet. "(The Food Standards Agency) is now recommending that people consume no more than two bitter apricot kernels in a single day."

[news.bbc.co.uk]

.. just trying to find limits concerning foods with B17.

EZ rider Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> 1) Could the human body use the small amount of
> (cyanide) in the apple seed for benefit to the body...

"Cyanide and thiocyanate can also be metabolized by several minor routes, including the combination of cyanide with hydroxycobalamin (vitamin B12a) to yield cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12) (Boxer & Rickards, 1952)" [www.inchem.org]

So the small amount of cyanide in apple seeds may go to good use..?

Strike that.. the hydroxycobalamin (vitamin B12a) is a more desirable form than cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12).

Hi EZ Rider

I always eat the pips, and some other pips.

You may find a short article I wrote on it of interest (although I did only gloss over the apple pips/cyanide thing)

[debbietookrawforlife.blogspot.com]

Love

Debbie Took

...one day i was on a massage table...getting a massage... of course why else would i be there... and my nutritionist was giving one of her..."scrubbing" (as i like to call it... massages... any how... i am calm and serene when she says... out of nowhere...."so if there is a nuclear attack make sure you have plenty of water... and apple seeds..." my first response was of course..."do you know something i don't"... then i asked..."why the apple seeds" she says that they contain iodine which is good for the thyroid gland...and nuclear stuff targets the thyroid... so y'all that are eating apple seeds will be doing well...god for bid someone gets the crazy manical happy finger and pushes the big red button...the rest will be in thyroid hell... or maybe just hell... so what i have read is eating the seeds of one apple a day is good... going over board stimulates the thyroid which is not good... so as said before just pay attention to how you feel and you will probably be ok... oh... so you can eat crab apples??? how about cherry's from a weeping cherry tree??? ok well

love laugh and dream
g

luvyuu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...one day i was on a massage table...getting a
> massage... of course why else would i be there...
> and my nutritionist was giving one of
> her..."scrubbing" (as i like to call it...
> massages... any how... i am calm and serene when
> she says... out of nowhere...."so if there is a
> nuclear attack make sure you have plenty of
> water... and apple seeds..." my first response
> was of course..."do you know something i don't"...
> then i asked..."why the apple seeds" she says
> that they contain iodine which is good for the
> thyroid gland...and nuclear stuff targets the
> thyroid... so y'all that are eating apple seeds
> will be doing well...god for bid someone gets the
> crazy manical happy finger and pushes the big red
> button...the rest will be in thyroid hell... or
> maybe just hell... so what i have read is eating
> the seeds of one apple a day is good... going over
> board stimulates the thyroid which is not good...
> so as said before just pay attention to how you
> feel and you will probably be ok... oh... so you
> can eat crab apples??? how about cherry's from a
> weeping cherry tree??? ok well
>
> love laugh and dream
> g


Your nutritionist makes one of Debbie Took's points.. maybe we should not save up our apple seeds and then eat too many at once...

Yes, you can eat crab apples. The ones I've had grow in the wild and vary in taste and may not be considered true crabapples.... the fruit of cultivated ones are considered edible with caution regarding the seeds: "Edible Uses: Fruit - raw or cooked. The fruit can be up to 6cm in diameter[200]." [plant.gardenbed.com]

Re: Weeping Cherry (Prunus pendula): "Edible Parts: Flowers; Fruit; Seed.
"Edible Uses: Tea.
"Fruit - raw or cooked[183]. Of little value[105]. The fruit is about 9mm in diameter and contains one large seed[200]. Seed - raw or cooked. Do not eat the seed if it is too bitter - see the notes above on toxicity. The flowers are preserved in salt and added to tea[177, 183].
"Although no specific mention has been seen for this species, it belongs to a genus where most, if not all members of the genus produce hydrogen cyanide, a poison that gives almonds their characteristic flavour. This toxin is found mainly in the leaves and seed and is readily detected by its bitter taste. It is usually present in too small a quantity to do any harm but any very bitter seed or fruit should not be eaten." [www.pfaf.org]

Is there iodine in apple seeds? Maybe limit to eating the seeds of just one apple a day..? that's good to know.. I can go thru a dozen.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2008 02:55PM by loeve.

Quote

maybe we should not save up our apple seeds and then eat too many at once.

I agree with this. I read about a guy that saved his apple seeds up in a quart jar and it took him a long time to get the jar full. When he finally got it full he ate all of the apple seeds at once. Of course he had a medical emergency then. I regularly eat the seeds from most of the fruits that come through my kitchen including apple seeds but I always eat them fresh along with the fruit and I have never experienced any problems doing that but then again thats only the seeds from one or two apples eaten as a meal or part of a meal. Why would someone store up seeds to eat in a bunch ? Don't they "get it" that fresh is best when it comes to produce ?

I've been eating apple seeds since I was a kid and I haven't died yet.

I doubt most of the vitamins get absorbed because how many people actually chew them well? I know I"ve bitten into a few seeds and the overwhelming bitter taste was so gross I wouldnt chew again and would just swallow it. Swallowing a broken apple seed probably comes out the way it went down.

EZ rider Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> maybe we should not save up our apple seeds and
> then eat too many at once.
>
> I agree with this. I read about a guy that saved
> his apple seeds up in a quart jar and it took him
> a long time to get the jar full. When he finally
> got it full he ate all of the apple seeds at once.
> Of course he had a medical emergency then. I
> regularly eat the seeds from most of the fruits
> that come through my kitchen including apple seeds
> but I always eat them fresh along with the fruit
> and I have never experienced any problems doing
> that but then again thats only the seeds from one
> or two apples eaten as a meal or part of a meal.
> Why would someone store up seeds to eat in a bunch
> ? Don't they "get it" that fresh is best when it
> comes to produce ?


LOL. What an idiot.

He probably thought it was like any other "seed" you buy like sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds..which even if you shouldn't eat a bag of sunflower seeds.. nobody dies from that either.

loeve Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ..correction: the "bitter" variety of apricot
> kernel is not restricted everywhere. Some health
> food stores carry them and you can get them on the
> internet. "(The Food Standards Agency) is now
> recommending that people consume no more than two
> bitter apricot kernels in a single day."
>
> [news.bbc.co.uk]
>
> .. just trying to find limits concerning foods
> with B17.

Eh, reading the rest of the article loses credibility for me.


"Cancer Research UK says of vitamin B17: "According to claims made on the Internet, this substance found in apricot pips is a highly active compound that can cure cancer.

"Unfortunately this is simply not true. The whole reason for the existence of Cancer Research UK is to find cures for cancers.

"If simply eating apricot seeds could cure cancer, no one would be more delighted than us."

"
1. There's a typo. I think they mean "Apricot pits" not "pips".


Of course! The whole existence for Cancer Research is to sucker people into donating and for them to research with chemicals like radioactive iodine. I'm surprised theyre not taking the "bad stuff" out of the apple seeds and messing around with that to cure cancer.

That guy was an idiot and he died of his stupidity. If he had eaten the apple seeds in small amounts as part of a fresh raw food meal he would have benefited from the nutrients in those meals IMO.

I have been raw %100 for over 40 years.

The reason that most plants protect their seeds with various biochemicals is to protect the future of the species and thus as a result animals and humans

Why? The seeds are meant to reproduce the plant.

Though many seeds are heathy foods they were meant primarily for plant reproduction In the case of certain seeds that re the fruit or a plant that is different.

So there is no clear answer here yet realize that planting seeds yeilds more for some plants than eating the seeds.

Sun

www.sunstarphoto.com

sunstar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have been raw %100 for over 40 years.
>
> The reason that most plants protect their seeds
> with various biochemicals is to protect the future
> of the species and thus as a result animals and
> humans
>
> Why? The seeds are meant to reproduce the plant.
>
> Though many seeds are heathy foods they were meant
> primarily for plant reproduction In the case of
> certain seeds that re the fruit or a plant that is
> different.
>
> So there is no clear answer here yet realize that
> planting seeds yeilds more for some plants than
> eating the seeds.
>
> Sun
>
> www.sunstarphoto.com

The Sapote (Mammy apple) came up in a google search of "apple seeds as a source of iodine". It is a tropical fruit unrelated to the apple genus malus. Yet it has amygdalin in its seed. The seed is used to make oil for dressing the hair and for toilet purposes.

[www.springerlink.com]

Some people do collect seeds to "protect the future of the species" (sunstar), as a source of food for when it is scarce, or just because they find value in them.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2008 10:39PM by loeve.

Before hybrids seeds grew trees

Johnny Appleseed was the quintessential apple seed ecoogist.

Seeds are to reproduce the plant basically.

they are trying to protect themselves

via biochemistry....

sun

LikeItOrNot and loeve,

At the risk of veering into medical territory: The benefits of amygdalin as a cancer therapy in the form of Laetrile have been exhaustively documented. There were dozens of peer-reviewed papers published on the EFFECTIVE use of Laetrile as a cancer therapy, beginning in the 1950s.* The FDA finally felt moved to test the stuff in the mid-1970s. They used every formulation and method of delivery but the effective ones in use for two decades, of course. And, not surprisingly, they ended up with unfavorable results and deemed Laetrile "ineffective," of course. *And those two decades' worth of peer reviewed research ended up being redacted, misplaced, dicarded, or lost in the annals of complementary medicine. Today, you may have to dig a bit deeper into "other" sources to find, for instance, research by Laetrile's inventors, the Drs Krebs. Mainstream medical journals will not have this data. And, yes, I am insinuating a conspiracy against this cancer therapy by the FDA. And if you don't believe that's possible, I am sorry to inform you that there is, alas, no Tooth Fairy. Boo-hoo.

Furthermore, since I cannot legally get Laetrile therapy if I were to develop cancer, I get therapeutic prevention[to supplement what cancer fighters are found in raw foods] in the form of "imported bitter Hunza apricot seeds;" and let me tell you, they are BITTER, from my local independent health food store. Now, I wonder what those health food store people know that the AMA doesn't know, hmmmm? : )

As for the idiot who ate six months' worth of apple seeds in one go: acute perotonitic diverticulitis, anyone? Ohhh, nice shot, pip-pip[Ha!]!

I get
> therapeutic prevention in the form of "imported
> bitter Hunza apricot seeds;" and let me tell you,
> they are BITTER, from my local independent health
> food store. Now, I wonder what those health food
> store people know that the AMA doesn't know,
> hmmmm? : )

Yeah, I've read a lot about the apricot seeds. And bought a bag from a trustable source who once claimed the same thing about B17 and it's cancer fighters.(I think the FDA made them take those "claims" off their website)

They're disgusting though. I can't eat bitter things. I might try to blend some in a smoothie if I can overpower the taste with something. Until I get the guts to try them again, the gerbils are enjoying them.