Amygdalin (Laetrile)

Special Precautions of Apricot Seeds

• Apricot seeds are taken by many people as a cancer treatment as they contain high doses of Vitamin B17 (Laetrile), an immune system enhancer. However, apricot seeds also contain cyanide, a poison. The Food Standards Agency (UK) has advised people to take no more than two bitter apricot kernels a day. Higher doses could be dangerous for human health.
• There are some reports of muscular weakness and respiratory difficulties in patients taking Laetrile. Usually these side effects are seen in patients who self-administer excessively high doses or who consume large amounts of apricot kernels, which can be quite toxic. Other side effect indications include dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. It is believed that these symptoms are related to the patient's impaired ability to dispose of the toxic products, as a result of tumor breakdown. In any case, no one should take Laetrile without appropriate supervision and monitoring. Oral Laetrile is converted to cyanide in the intestines by bacteria. Intravenous Laetrile, in the most common form of administration, appears not to lead to the uncommon side effect of cyanide toxicity. There have been reports of death and illness in children who took Laetrile tablets accidentally. However, these incidents are not the result of therapeutic administration of the drug.

The benefits of Apricot Seeds are

• There are many indications that taking apricot kernels helps preventing cancer. Apricot kernels contain a high amount of vitamin B17, which is also known as laetrile, amygdalin or nitriloside. Nitrilosides can also be found in most all fruit seeds including apple, peach, cherry, orange, and nectarine. It is also found in millet, wheat grass, lima beans and mung beans. Amagdylin is found with the highest concentration and necessary enzymes in apricot seed kernels. A primitive tribe, the Hunzas, were known to consume large amounts of apricot seed kernels. The hard pit had to be broken to get into the soft kernels. There was no incidence of cancer with them at all, ever. And they had long, healthy life spans. Laetrile was created by simply extracting amagdylin from the soft apricot kernels, purifying it and putting it into a concentrated form.