Cyanide on the high street – a kernel of truth
Le Canard Noir has written a highly informative post on this issue at The Quackometer. He will fill you in on the Cochrane and Bandolier opinions on the evidence for the benefits of apricot kernels. Take a look at his post but I will summarise and tell you the current position is that there is no evidence whatsoever of benefit. There is no evidence they help with cancer. What is not particularly controversial is the known side effects from taking cyanide.
Julian Graves are now selling apricot kernels and they will flog you 250g of them online here. Apricot kernels contain amygdalin (or laetrile) and this is hydrolysed to hydrogen cyanide amongst other things. Nice.
If you are not too sure of the clinical effects of cyanide poisoning then let me fill you in on a case report of poisoning from apricot kernels recorded in this paper in the Annals of Emergency Medicine in 1998.
A 41 year old woman ate around 30 apricot kernels (~15g) and then within 20-30minutes developed numbness and weakness. She was able to ring a friend and tell her she was short of breath (dyspnoeic) and having problems swallowing. Her friend called the emergency services and the paramedics found her collapsed on her bathroom floor. They rushed her to the Emergency Department. The paper records her pretty dismal state – including a metabolic acidosis where her blood pH was 7.17. The normal is 7.37-7.43 – bear in mind this a logarithmic scale – and you will appreciate this is a parlous position to be in.
It was diagnosed by the emergency physician (top effort!) and she was given the antidote of amyl nitrite and sodium thiosulfate. Blood cyanide levels were up and confirmed the diagnosis but she made a full recovery. The paper goes on to comment:
Assuming a cyanide content of 2.92mg/g and an average fatal dose of 106mg, the 8-ounce bag of apricot kernels purchased by the patient could kill up to 6 adults if consumed in one sitting.
This is a slightly smaller bag size than Julian Graves sells. If you still need convincing of the dangers of cyanide then the CDC gives a reassuring overview.
Of course, a few apricot kernels is not the same as a terrorist attack with cyanide gas and Julian Graves recommend a maximum dose of 2 kernels per day. But try doing the calculation above with a child’s weight and you will find it would take just a few kernels to reach a fatal dose. I am astonished that the Food Standards Agency can let this go.
Good grief man, get a grip, it’s from apricots so unlike those ghastly Big Pharma chemical whanots it’s natural so has to be wholesome and good for us, right?
The average fatal oral dose for humans has been estimated to be 1.52 mg CN kg–1 bw. This value results from tissue analysis at autopsy, and is an absorbed dose. The lowest reported fatal oral dose for humans is 0.56 mg kg–1 bw (Gettler and Baine, 1938). The average fatal dose for dermal exposure has been estimated to be 100 mg kg–1 bw.
DEFRA, COLLATION OF TOXICOLOGICAL DATA AND INTAKE VALUES FOR HUMANS: INORGANIC CYANIDE (2002)
So, taking a 15kg child (age 6), using the lowest reported fatal oral dose (0.56 mg kg-1 bw), would require a dose of 8.4mg CN. Based on a concentration of 2.92mg CN/g apricot kernels, each kernel weighing 0.5g, you could theoretically poison a child with about 6 kernels.
I read 6-7 kernels elsewhere for a child but I didn’t quote it as it didn’t have the kind of rationale you supplied. Thank you! Terrifyingly small amount.
I understand they are significantly more dangerous if chewed rather than swallowed whole. I have never tried one myself but it might be a bit challenging for a small child to munch one so that may mitigate the danger a touch.
Fairly clearly, there would no absolutely no market for these at all if it wasn’t for the spurious claims re cancer in the past. Claims that Julian Graves have been careful not to make.
At last i find an artical that confirms my suspicions. My husband has a terminal brain tumour, his family has been fightinh and forcing him to take both apricot kernals (upto 40 a day) and B17 tablets. I have fought against this as i feel they are comprimising his health. As you can guess they do not like what i have to say. It worries me that they are dealing with a dealer from South Africa. I will certainly show your article to my husband as he needs to read the other side of the arguement. So thank you for your report. Ravi
No offense guys, but I’ve eaten them myself, well more than 2 or even 6 a day and I’ve never gotten sick. This is just bs. Apple seeds are also completely edible. I eat them whenever I eat an apple, sometimes up to 12 to 14 at a time. No problems whatsoever. I’ve eaten apricot seeds straight out of the apricot, too. No problems. That fact that people are screaming poison at 2 seeds makes me really suspicious. If you are really being poisoned by eating more than 2 seeds, maybe someone is after you. With all this hubub about something being poisonous, when it in fact is not, you might start to suspect YOURSELF that there is some truth to the claims.
yeah, the same guy on quackwatch who claims to be a doctor tried to say Chiropractors were quack too…GMAB!!!
I can appreciate the skepticism many of you have regarding apricot kernels and their use in an alternative approach to overcoming cancer. But allow me to testify, swearing on the lives of all those dear to me, that their use, in conjunction with a number of dietary changes, is indeed effective for many people. They aren’t a magic bullet, nor do they work for everyone, but they absolutely do work and I’ve seen it time and again. For those that truly do benefit and, indeed, overcome their cancers, the majority have opted out of conventional therapy.
This isn’t a quick fix. It is generally a slow healing process; a reversal of the condition, which, in many cases, has been there years prior to diagnosis. One of the reasons people experience failure with apricot kernels is that they simply do not give them the time they need. Most people want instant results and aren’t prepared to fight for their lives to the extent required.
I happen to be an apricot kernel supplier and I can speak with confidence. I’m not going to post an address or a name for my business, as I don’t want to be seen as capitalizing on a marketing opportunity. I became involved with apricot kernels after witnessing two cases of cancer overcome – one of bowel cancer, the other of brain. The project was started, not for income generation, but at a time when apricot kernels were scarcely available to the general public. I had been using them regularly and had a steady supply. I wanted to be involved in bringing them to those willing or desperate to try them.
Over the years, I’ve literally sold thousands of pounds of apricot kernels. Unfortunately, most people buying apricot kernels are on their last legs. They’ve been through the conventional system and their life-span has been seriously shortened as a result. People aren’t dying from their cancers; they’re dying from their treatments. This is not to suggest that they wouldn’t ultimately die from their cancers had they gone untreated, but the vast majority are leaving early after succumbing to the devastation of their treatment. I’ve had this conversation with medical doctors and they readily acknowledge that this is the case.
To put things into perspective, of the thousands upon thousands of customers I’ve had over the years, not once have we ever received a report of serious, adverse reaction to the kernels, or acute toxicity manifesting in anything beyond a mild headache, nausea, or dizziness. We’ve certainly never had anyone die as a result of their use, nor hospitalized. Most people consuming them in sensible quantities experience no adverse reaction at all. In fact, they tend to experience a sense of well-being and a general improvement in the way they feel.
I won’t go into the contrast between the dangers of pharmaceutical drugs relative to apricot kernels. The death-rate resulting from pharmaceuticals annually is astronomical. The annual death-rate resulting from the consumption of apricot kernels is nil, on average.
There are reasons some people react to smaller quantities of apricot kernels in a less than desirable way. In my experience, this tends to be the result of an amino acid deficiency. Many people employing alternative modalities have also adopted a strict, vegetarian diet that may well be low in sulphur-bearing amino acids. The enzyme we’re equipped with to process dietary cyanide (Rhodanese) is dependant upon sulphur-bearing amino acids – namely, Cysteine. For those not consuming animal protein, I recommend they be taking a NAC (N-acetyl-cysteine) supplement, or using whey protein isolate. In addition to providing an ample supply of amino acids, they both promote the production of glutathione, which will also be of great benefit to their efforts.
I’m not a quack, charlatan or scammer – I’m not unscrupulous nor looking to take advantage of desperate people. Apricot kernels and other cyanogenic glycosides are of exceptional benefit to many people. Not all, but many. Aside from their biological value as a component of treatment, they provide many with hope, which is a powerful state of mind. Amongst our customer-base, we’ve had many doctors and practitioners of all sorts. Many conventional practitioners acknowledge their efficacy, having witnessed the results experienced by their patients. They tend not to understand it, but can’t deny it.
I do hope that the skeptics among you will consider for a moment that people are, in fact, experiencing beneficial results – not just from apricot kernels, but all sorts of alternative approaches for any number of ailments. I’ve been involved with natural health for nearly a decade. I’ve seen people overcome conditions treated unsuccessfully for years in the conventional system. I’ve seen people cured of “incurable” diseases. I really struggle to understand why so many people are reluctant to believe this. To those of us involved in alternative therapies, it’s a reality, and I forget sometimes that people are so generally ignorant about health – not health as viewed by the conventional system, but real health. We are natural creatures living a not so natural existence. Restore your internal environment to a natural state and you will overcome your ailments. The ingestion of, or exposure to, unnatural substances will ultimately result in negative impact. Common sense. There is nothing random about disease onset. Please consider it.
I have started taking apricot kernels as a prevention for cancer. I was receommended to take 10 a day. Up to now I’ve been chewing them but I happened upon a notation that they should be swallowed whole. Is this true? Thanks a lot.
Hi Penny,
Not at all. If you were to swallow the kernels whole, they would exit your body in much the same state, unmetabolised. They must be chewed very thoroughly in order to release the amygdalin. This is why I have difficulty believing the little tale of the 2 year old at the bottom of this page. As you can likely attest, adults have difficulty chewing 10 kernels thoroughly.
And to you Northern Doctor,
I’d like to comment that I feel your tweet on the matter is highly irresponsible. You know better than that. I appreciate you have a total lack of respect for alternative medicine, but that tweet is akin to a tabloid headline. Is that the market you’re hoping to appeal to? Be certain of the veracity of a comment on your blog before you use it as ammunition in your campaign against unconventional therapies.
By the way – two more of our users have gotten the ‘all-clear’ since I first posted on your blog. Like most who attempt an alternative approach, they’d already been through the conventional system and given up on. Feel free to tweet about that. But I suppose it had nothing to do with the apricot kernels… just another miracle. Or, maybe they never had cancer to begin with! That must be it.
After I bought a bag of dry roasted apricot kernels (also labeled “the poor man’s almond” from my local Trader Joe’s, a friend of mine who was over pointed out that I might want to read up on what they were before grabbing a “handful” to snack on. I bought them in the raw nut section. There is nothing on the label warning anyone about anything having to do with poisoning or compromised immune systems, or mention of cancer or medical on the packaging it is being sold as a food in a grocer, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
I’m just starting to read about this whole subject and ended up here on your blog. Being open minded to both sides of the story at this point I guess I am concerned and as such pointing out that one would think a chain of stores like Trader Joe’s would not put something on their shelves as a food where someone could buy them and give a handful to their child if something like Cyanide poisoning from them was an issue.
Is it a question of raw vs. cooked? These are dry roasted. I believe it’s the first time I’ve ever seen them on the shelf in a market. I really like the taste, they are like almonds with a slight hint of apricot (go figure) but want to know more about it at this point as if there is a health risk in eating them perhaps I don’t want a small handful at a time… at this point color me confused.
I just bought some dry roasted apricot kernels at my local health store. I wanted a healthy snack. I asked the clerk what they were good for — she answered..”cancer”. Well, I snacked on them — I ate about 20 — they were like almonds — some bitter, some not.
When I got to the office, I made my regular whey protein drink. And then we started for home. When we got home– I felt sick, like I had the flu or something. I felt it was the apricot kernels, so I googled apricot kernel indications and then roasted apricot kernels.
Now I understand why I’m not feeling the best – and I’m so glad I had the whey protein drink right afterwards, after reading about the need for cysteine to break it down. There was no label of direction or warning on the package — it was a snack!
You should get your proteins from your diet of daily foods not a shake. I don’t believe it was the apricot kernels that made you sick.
Gnar – I have been looking but can’t find if roasting them makes any difference. Anonymous’ comment above is interesting – I can’t say it was the kernels but he/she obviously thinks so.
Julian Graves (a UK high street shop) supplies them and warns no more than 2 kernels in 24hrs on the label.
Thanks for your reply, Doc.
I’m all for complementary medicine, but the above comment by anonymous concerns me also. My case is the same, they are being sold on the shelf at a grocer as a snack food.
I found them extra tasty, myself, and although I ate a large handful on more than one occasion before that posting, I don’t feel like it had any ill effect on my health. I do however feel some concern over people buying these off the shelf as a snack, especially since it seems as though adverse reactions exist for some. Too easy for kids to get ahold of. No warning label.
I feel like writing to Trader Joe’s, and encourage anyone else with an opinion on the matter to contact them as well – I am not saying that this potential alternate therapy should be discounted or banned without further investigation, but I don’t think they should be sold as a snack.
I do remember as a child having my father tell me that you shouldn’t eat the inside of the apricot pit “because it contained cyanide” so that was in the back of my mind as I was buying them, but figured if they sold it on the shelf at a grocer that must not be the case.
re: roasting – I also see designations between “sweet” vs. “bitter” apricot kernels and wonder if that is the differing factor – the ones I bought were “sweet”.
Roasting does indeed make a difference; however, it doesn’t destroy the amygdalin content. What it does destroy is the amygdalase, which is the catalyst enzyme inherent to the kernel. This enzyme in raw apricot kernels is what liberates the components of the molecule in the presence of moisture. The bitterness we experience is the liberation of cyanide upon hydrolysis of amygdalin. In the absence of this enzyme, this reaction doesn’t occur until the amygdalin makes its way to the intestines, where it’s metabolised in the presence of beta-glucosidase found within the body.
When apricot kernels are used as an ingredient in cooking, such as the amaretti cookies, the cyanide component is neutralised through its combination with wet constituents. The HCN is realeased as a gas. The remaining benzaldehyde component is what gives the goods their characteristic marzipan flavour.
Apricot kernels should not be sold as a snack and offering them roasted would absolutely give this impression. The characteristic and unpleasant bitterness of raw apricot kernels creates an instinctive caution. Children are generally repulsed moments after they begin chewing an apricot kernel. The destruction of amygdalase removes this signal and puts them into a potentially very dangerous category – particularly for those unable to distinguish them from almonds.
As Gnar points out, there are both bitter and sweet varieties, and if these roasted kernels are, indeed, of the sweet variety, there’s no need for concern. As is the case with almonds, the sweet variety only contain trace amounts of amygdalin.
It’s against the law in most countries to sell apricot kernels as a therapeutic good and this presents a problem with their sale and is the very reason they are being passed off as a food item. They can’t be sold in conjunction with therapeutic advice, which also means that safe ingestion can’t be discussed. In order for apricot kernels to be effective as a therapeutic substance, they must be consumed in therapeutically relevant quantities, which have no resemblance to the “safe” quantities established by food standards organisations. We know this through experience. However, these quantities must remain within an individual’s capacity to safely process free-cyanide, which is a function our bodies naturally perform. Gauging this quantity is dependent upon self-monitoring and a gradual increase. As we approach capacity, the body provides signals, which usually manifest as mild dizziness or nausea.
It’s not until the watchdogs get off the backs of alternative therapies that open discussion and education can commence regarding their safe employment.
Here’s my take … It’s all about money. Conventional medicine makes hundreds of billions of dollars so do you think that the AMA or the FDA is gonna tell you that Apricot kernels are good for you ? No way. My doctor confirmed that B17 found in Apricot kernels actually has shown an effective treatment for cancer. He asked me not to use his name anywhere as he told me they would take his license and label him a quack. That’s the reality. If you dare challenge the money machine of Drug companies and hospitals they will make you pay. Kinda like Max Gerson.
It’s been my experience that most people have this kind of white coat syndrome. They seem to believe everything their doctor tells them about their health. What about the fact that it’s YOUR body and you should be better in touch with it. Most people don’t worry about their health till it fails.
Stay open minded and do your OWN research.
Its all very interesting, but today i found comparison to salt which will kill you if taken in large amounts. Also I read about the woman who died from drinking to much water (10 liters). It washed out all the minerals from her body. It really worries me that 100% natural ingredient are being made illegal but we are constantly approving prcessed ingredients. It should be ilegal to ilegalize natures own products. To much of anyhing is whats dangerous as is to little of the same.
I eat apricot kernels and the pits from apples.
Since we have so many cases of cancer in the western world, I think we should worry more about the “unnatural” ingrediences which have been approved. The so called slow killers.
The 2 and a half year old daughter of one of my best friends just died from eating about 10 apricot kernels. By the time they got her to the hospital it was too late. Please be careful. We have a number of these trees in our backyard and everyone in our neighborhood eats the kernels and there has never been a problem so I’m not sure how this happened and why it happened now. I think there may be a difference between ’sweet’ seeds and ‘bitter’ ones? The sweet ones seem to be fine but the ones this girl ate were of the bitter variety. She also ate them in the morning on an empty stomach which could make a difference. Please take the chance of the seeds being poisonous very seriously. There is little difference in taste between an apricot kernel and an almond…so please just return your bag of kernels to the store and buy a bag of almonds!!
I’ll need to see the report before I believe it. Unless the kernels have been chewed to a paste, there’s no chance of cyanide poisoning. I don’t see a 2 1/2 year old being capable or willing to chew 10 apricot kernels. If this did indeed happen, it will be news worthy of pouncing on.
There are two more comments on this thread that were made last night. Although they appear on my dashboard (and on the comments feed on the right) they are not in the thread. I’ll leave it a bit to see if it is a WordPress glitch that rights itself. If not I will post them up myself.
I am keen to respond to them and there is no attempt at censorship going on.
Doh, the penny just dropped. Just found ‘the lost comments’ higher up in the thread under one of the nested options.
In reply to ‘A self-proclaimed aprciot [sic] kernel expert’.
Here is the tweet for those interested.
I specifically commented on the issue of veracity and given the limitations of Twitter I also linked to the post where readers can read further comments (including your own).
I find your accusations of irresponsibility almost pathological in their break-taking lack of insight. You are advocating a substance that has no known benefit and has a clear toxic risk. I agree that the risk of toxicity is low but it unquestionably exists. This is not something that amygdalin can claim regarding cancer in any reasonably argument.
I would also agree with your anonymous comment (at least I am assuming it is you given the identical IP address) expressing the need for further information in regard to the 2 year old who took kernels. I wouldn’t use it as further ‘ammunition’ without clear evidence of its truth. I am still entirely comfortable about using it and while you believe of the wonderful cancer curing effects of amygdalin someone else thinks it has harmful effects. And it is worth drawing attention to it because adverse effects are treated differently to therapeutic effects in terms of evidence base. This happens for all medications and not just alternative ones.
Case-reports are a crucial strand of monitoring side-effects but we don’t rely on case-reports to prove benefit. I am sorry but I don’t find your own unsubstantiated claims of benefit as sufficient evidence of anything other than your own irresponsible behaviour. And I will be tweeting that.
” 2 year old dies from eating apricot kernels. ”
This certainly reads like a sensational headline to me. Do you tweet every recent comment on your blog?
Yes, you’re quite right – the anonymous comment above is, indeed, mine. I’d made the assumption a cookie would be keeping track of my activity. There was no intent to give the impression I was a unique identity and I suspect your clever readers will have gathered this without the aid of a static IP address.
What known benefits do the toxins you advocate possess? Give us a couple examples and we’ll look at them more closely. Cyclophosphamide? Mechlorethamine? Tamoxifen?
My claims may be unsubstantiated by your criteria, but if I’ve played any role in the present health status of these two individuals through my “irresponsible behaviour”, I cheerfully plead guilty. I advocate a substance that is known to be beneficial by a great many people. That it has “no known benefit” in your opinion is quite irrelevant and the suggestion that it shouldn’t be used for this reason is arrogant.
Whether you’re prepared to acknowledge this or not, in most cases, cancer is a metabolic disorder, as are most of the diseases that have become prevalent amongst those influenced by western lifestyles. I don’t believe that amygdalin is the missing link, as has been misconceived by many of the propagators, but a second line of defense. When coupled with proper dietary considerations for the individual, it serves to expedite cell death. This happens without introducing substances that are foreign to the biological experience. This principle is crucial to the restoration of health to the body and the failure to abide by this will forever prevent conventional medicine from curing cancer, or any other disease.
You place far too much confidence in the methods of your modality and the groups charged to exercise them. If you were to open your mind and consider the validity of the anecdotal evidence that abounds for any number of alternative therapies, as so many of your colleagues are beginning to, you would be a better doctor. If you fail to do this, you will remain limited and your declaration, counterfeit. You will be amongst a group of people who will be looked back upon as neglectfully ignorant, as the more enlightened individuals of the future acknowledge the arrogant mistakes of the past.
Apricot kernels and B17 fight even aggresive cancers such as brain tumours when coincided with an anti cancer, sugar&dairy free diet. Please, do your homework, fight cancer and save lives. Stand up to those people who are not interested for their own selfish & evil reasons. I have personally met & know people who have done it. DONT BECOME A CANCER STATISTIC!
Is it with all fruits, such as apples, that contain B17 that you have to chew the seeds and how many apple seeds are effective? Thanks.
Also its funny how there is so much suspicion over the likelihood of getting cyanide poisoning from fruit seeds when having too much of anything would probably be toxic. Drinking too much water kills you. How they treat cancer at the moment seems to do more harm than good anyway. I had a ct scan recently due to chronic headaches which gave me 3 years worth of radiation, which in fact increases the risk of cancer.
As I have posted over on the other related thread, there is not the slightest scientific rationale for the idea that cyanide from these precursor chemicals would somehow mysteriously “target” tumour cells. It is utter bunkum. Laetrile is such a transparent and repeatedly discredited scam that it is practically the definitive example of how implausible health claims never die out, no matter how ill-founded or repeatedly disproved. Which is, of course, a tribute to both human hope (or desperation), and to human credulity.
Killing Cancer With Cyanide