To prevent cancer I eat the apple seeds that come through my kitchen for the vitamin B17 in them. Here's where I got the idea:

[www.worldwithoutcancer.org.uk]

And here's a list of foods high in vitamin B17:

[www.vitaminb17.org]

Does anyone else eat the seeds from an apple a day ?

Forgive my newbie-ness with this question, but, if I remember my research from several years ago correctly, aren't apple seeds toxic if too many are consumed? Granted, it could have been total bunk and I wouldn't have known it at the time, but I do remember reading about that.

When I've juiced in the past, I always juiced the whole apple. I've never eaten the seeds unless it was by accident.

i don't eat or juice apple seeds, i feel they aren't healthful. i eat plenty of those other foods, we gorge ourselves on wild mulberry and raspberry all summer long and freeze the raspberries. yum.

I've also heard that eating apple seeds will wind up giving the eater a toe tag but I have been eating some everyday for quite awhile and feel just fine. Anyone heard anything good or bad about eating apple seeds ?

I heard about some guy who died after eating a quart jar full of apple seeds that he saved for a couple of years and then ate them all at once and got a toe tag. It was a long time ago I heard that and I may have it wrong. Anyone know more about this ?

Here's another link to some more info:

[www.healingdaily.com]

some poisons are acculmulative, keep this in mind.

When I juice apples, I juice all of the apple, that includes skin and seeds. I wonder if the bottle companies juice the whole apple? I figure they must..they probably don't waste anything.

If one were to eat a quart jar of just seeds, and they are dried, maybe then it's not healthy.

Love,
Prism

I don't believe that any single plant component has the power to prevent cancers. Cancers are a multifaceted problem and in many cases multiple genes are involved. Some protective isolated substances can reduce rates and slow down the progression but if you want to hedge your bets, take in a bunch of them from a variety of different food sources. I doubt it's a good idea to fixate on any one of them. There is cyanide in apple seeds, too. Better to eat a wide variety of uncooked plant foods, avoid overt mutagens and carcinogens, etc. But the most protective ones seem to be the uncooked green leaves. If anyone wants a ref or two:

Sieri S, Krogh V, Pala V, Muti P, Micheli A, Evangelista A, Tagliabue G, Berrino F.
Free Full Text
[www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]
Dietary patterns and risk of breast cancer in the ORDET cohort.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2004 Apr;13(4):567-72.
PMID: 15066921 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Sant M, Allemani C, Sieri S, Krogh V, Menard S, Tagliabue E, Nardini E, Micheli A, Crosignani P, Muti P, Berrino F.
Salad vegetables dietary pattern protects against HER-2-positive breast cancer: a prospective Italian study.
Int J Cancer. 2007 Aug 15;121(4):911-4.
PMID: 17455245 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

From what I have read and heard the Apricot Kernels are the best source of Vitamin B17. As has been stated in this thread the Apple seeds have other properties that can be cumulative and harmful but I don't have a steady supply of Apricot Kernels coming through my kitchen and I do have apples (and apple seeds) coming through my kitchen regularly. I think moderation is prudent and I am going to cut down on my apple seed consumption so that I only get the seeds from 1 or 2 apples daily. Thanks everyone for the interesting and helpful posts on this thread.

I would never eat apple seeds. That is crazy. Really crazy to me,

how is the experiment coming? Have you really prevented cancer?

suvine Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would never eat apple seeds. That is crazy. Really crazy to me,
> how is the experiment coming? Have you really prevented cancer?


Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

The best way to prevent cancer is to remove yourself from the influence of carcinogens. That is, don't eat foods or ingest things that contain them, don't put them on your skin, breathe them, or keep them in your house. Do this, and you won't get cancer.

A simple raw diet of fruits and raw vegetables will keep the carcinogen out of your diet, especially if you are eating organic. Using only filtered or pure water to clean your skin and hair skin will keep your exposure to carcinogens in personal products to a minimum. Looking at your household products for substances that are artificial, petroleum based, or chemical laden will keep carcinogens out of your personal environment.

I always said that Johnny Appleseed was really Johnny Cyanide... >8)

Some of these sites... wow. "The bitter almond tree was banned from the U.S. in 1995." GREAT idea, guys, let's BAN TREES!

Brain... hurting...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2008 03:58PM by phantom.

"When B17 is introduced to the body, it is broken down by the enzyme Rhodanese. The Rhodanese breaks the Hydrogen Cyanide and Benzaldehyde down into 2 by-products, Thiocyanate and Benzoic acid which are beneficial in nourishing healthy cells and forms the metabolic pool production for vitamin B12. Any excess of these by-products is expelled in normal fashion from the body via urine. Vitamin B17 passes through your body and does not last longer than 80 minutes inside your body as a result of the Rhodanese breaking it down."

[www.laetrile.com.au]

Did I understand that part about the B12 properly?!?! O.O

After having carefully considered the B17 issue I have decided to continue to eat the seeds of 1 or 2 fresh raw apples daily as I have for the last several years but no more then that. This is my decision and I feel that everyone needs to do their own research and make their own decision about the B17 issue.

thanks for posting this info, EZ. super interesting, and i look forward to researching more information about it.

So! I bought some delicious red plums yesterday, and thought I'd investigate this elusive matter further.

After stripping the flesh of several (mmm mmm!) plums, I laid the pits on my cutting board, got out my coconut-cracking knife, and gave the stones a whack. A small part of me that was skeptical about this whole b17 thing really didn't even think that the pits would open, or there would be anything inside.

Surely enough, something like a small almond or filbert was inside... so I ate it! The flavor? INCREDIBLY bitter almond, like the taste of marzipans, but super-concentrated (funny I have to compare this to a synthetic food item I knew my entire life).

I don't know if I feel any more immortal or not, but the bitter taste of the nut combined with the sweet of the flesh puts a whole new spin on eating plums that is most enjoyable! The plums were also about nine times more filling.

I can't believe I went my whole life without knowing there was a nut inside, a yummy nut. I'm pretty sure most peach and plum eaters I know don't know any better, either, considering it hasn't come into conversation once in my 22 years of life.

Ancient man knew...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2008 10:44PM by phantom.

I didn't know this was the case with plums. I knew it was with apricots. I've eaten the nut inside the apricot seed. It's rich with nutrients and yes, is a little bitter, but still good.

What's a coconut cracking knife? How do you open a coconut without making a mess?

It's just a GIANT SCARY KNIFE that I use to open young coconuts. ^.^;;

I think there's a thread about ways to open a coconut around here somewhere, but the real answer is just lots of practice. I went from sitting on the floor with a hammer to doing it on autopilot in about a minute. :O

Most of the Rosaceae are going to have a slight bitter almond pit scent if they have pits. This includes

almond, apple, pear, plum, cherry, capulin, sloe, quince, medlar, loquat, wood apple, crabapple, rowanberries, sorb, rosehip, apricot, peach, nectarine, strawberry, raspberry, cloudberry, Arctic bramble, blackberry, dewberry, boysenberry, loganberry, hawthorn berry, thornberry, saskatoon berry, chokecherry, blackcap, thimbleberry

They are all closely related plants.