I've heard that wheat grass,apple seeds,and pear seeds have vitamin B17.
Does anyone know anything about that? About the apple seeds I've heard that it is not good to eat them.Do you eat apple seeds?Thanks.

I always eat the seeds that nature has packaged inside the apple at the same time that I eat the apple.
Here's a list of foods that have vitamin B17 in them: [www.vitaminb17.org]

I spit out apple seeds because the vitamin b17 (amygdalin) sometimes can become too toxic (cyanide).

The cyanide is inert except in the presence of large amounts of beta-glucosidase, an enzyme emitted chiefly by aberrant cells, like cancerous ones. I HATE repeating myself!

I eat apple seeds with the whole fruit for the various nutrients in them (not for "B17" which is not a true vitamin) and not separately which can lead to cyanide poisoning if eaten in excessive amounts..

"5.1.4 Food
"Many edible plants contain cyanogenic glycosides (Laetrile, Amygdalin, "vitamin B17", whose concentrations can vary widely as a result of genetic and environmental factors, location, season, and soil types (Ermans et al., 1980; JECFA, 1993). Some of the foodstuffs and their cyanide contents are shown in Table 3. Cassava tubers vary widely in their cyanogenic glycoside content, although most varieties contain 15–400 mg cyanide/kg fresh weight. Occasionally varieties of cassava tubers contain 1300–2000 mg cyanide/kg fresh weight, and cassava leaves contain 1000–2000 mg cyanogenic glucosides/kg on a dry matter basis (Padmaja, 1995). Fermentation of cassava pulp for 96 h during gari production reduced the hydrogen cyanide content by 50%; soaking of sliced cassava for 24 h, 40%; and sun-drying, some 15% (Kendirim et al., 1995). It should be noted that the ranges of cyanide concentrations shown in Table 3 are very broad in several cases (i.e., cereals and their products, soy protein products, and apricot pits), which may be due to their different sources and differences in analytical procedures; as well, the values may reflect the older literature.

"Hydrogen cyanide can be produced by hydrolytic reaction catalysed by one or more enzymes from the plants containing cyanogenic glycosides. In kernels, for example, this reaction is catalysed by the enzyme emulsin (Lasch & El Shawa, 1981) when the seeds are crushed and moistened. Amygdalin (which is also present in cassava, bitter almonds, and peach stones) is converted to glucose, benzaldehyde, and hydrogen cyanide (Figure 2) (IPCS, 1992). Hydrogen cyanide release can occur during maceration, which activates intracellular beta-glucosidases. This reaction can also result from chewing, which causes the enzyme and the cyanogenic glycosides stored in different compartments to combine (Ermans et al., 1980; Nahrstedt, 1993). The reaction occurs rapidly in an alkaline environment, and the hydrolysis is complete in 10 min. Hydrolysis is possible in an acid solution and takes place slowly...

"Liberation of hydrogen cyanide from cyanogenic glycosides occurs usually after ingestion and hydrolysis by the glycosidases of the intestinal microflora and, to a lesser degree, by glucosidases of the liver and other tissues (Padmaja, 1995). However, hydrolysis may also occur during the preparation of the food, which may account for the short interval between ingestion and the appearance of signs of poisoning in some accidents (Lasch & El Shawa, 1981).

"Table 3: Cyanide concentrations in food products.a

"Type of product
Cyanide concentration (in mg/kg or mg/litre)

Cereal grains and their products
0.001–0.45

Soy protein products
0.07–0.3

Soybean hulls
1.24

Apricot pits, wet weight
89–2170

Home-made cherry juice from pitted fruits
5.1

Home-made cherry juice containing 100% crushed pits
23

Commercial fruit juices


Cherry
4.6

Apricot
2.2

Prune
1.9

Tropical foodstuffs


Cassava (bitter) / dried root cortex
2360

Cassava (bitter) / leaves
300

Cassava (bitter) / whole tubers
380

Cassava (sweet) / leaves
451

Cassava (sweet) / whole tubers
445

Gari flour (Nigeria)
10.6–22.1

Sorghum / whole immature plant
2400

Bamboo / immature shoot tip
7700

Lima beans from Java (coloured)
3000

Lima beans fom Puerto Rico (black)
2900

Lima beans from Burma (white)
2000

"a From Nartey (1980); Honig et al. (1983); JECFA (1993); ATSDR (1997)."

[www.inchem.org]

Thank you so much guys for all the information. I believe that I'll start eating apple seeds from now on.