Apricot kernels and shruggies

This lengthy comment was posted in response to my post – Cyanide on the high street: a kernel of truth. I wanted to give it a wider readership.

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.

Le Canard Noir over at The Quackometer has posted on the issue of Julian Graves selling apricot kernels and raised this directly with them.

I do not particularly want to sit down and deconstruct this comment. It is pretty measured in tone and the writer has tried to present a reasoned argument to justify their support for the use of apricot kernels. My opinion is that the evidence is currently overwhelming – apricot kernels won’t cure your cancer and the side-effects are real. This comment presents all the usual canards of CAM – anecdotal medicine, Big Pharma and the emphasis on ‘natural health’.

It also highlights the particular problem of arguing around CAM. Practising as a GP raises real difficulties of how to address the problem of CAM. And I do think it is a problem. Most GPs work tremendously hard to provide medical care that fits with the belief systems of our patients. We try to maintain positive relationships with them and also with our colleagues.

Jehovah’s Witness? Fine, we won’t give you blood products. Roman Catholic GP? Fine, we’ll get your colleagues to refer any abortions. You think your cancer will be cured by laetrile? Sure, well it is your choice. GP who practises homeopathy? Well we all know that the placebo effect is very powerful… etc

But it isn’t as easy as that. Science-based medicine has saved countless thousands of lives and CAM erodes it. Science-based medicine has coined the term shruggie. Here is the definition:

Shruggie (noun): a person who doesn’t care about the science versus pseudoscience debate. When presented with descriptions of exaggerated or fraudulent health claims or practices, their response is to shrug. Shruggies are fairly inert, they will not argue the merits (or lack thereof) of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) or pseudoscience in general. They simply aren’t all that interested in the discussion, and are somewhat puzzled by those who are.

I don’t want to be a shruggie.