Apricot Seeds
 

I was reading an article about a group of people in India who have a 0% Cancer rate. The article went on to say that the scientists believed the immunity was directly related to the high consumption of apricot seeds by the natives. When I googled apricot seeds, I found that they actually contain vitamin B17 and trace amounts of the compound Cyanide, which besides being a well known poison, does actually have several medical uses. It also warns that you can overdose on the seeds and that they should not be eaten in excess. I know it's not the cure for Cancer, but maybe the next time you're at a Trader Joe's or Costco you'll consider picking up some dried apricots and incorporating them into your diet.

There is no actual evidence for apricot anything to be beneficial regarding cancer. Eat them if they taste good to you, if not, don't.

There is no "vitamin B17". There is a chemical that was labeled that by a guy who wanted to take advantage of the label.

apple seeds have cyanide in them too

and almonds

which have actually been found to have alot of antioxidants related to cancer prevention.

Peach pits have the same properties. I actually read about this in a cancer prevention booklet (free public service thing) that I picked up at a pharmacy in 1987.

Maybe there's something to it.

Something clinical studies can't seem to reproduce.

What about this one, linked in the wiki article you linked?

Um... the dried apricots don't have the seeds in them anymore, do they? I wouldn't actually know, because apricots are gross so I don't eat them. Any poor, rural group of people is going to have a significantly lower cancer rate because they don't eat and live in all the bullshit we do. On the other hand, I have air conditioning and the internet.

Didn't Steve McQueen try the apricot cure???????

When my mother was sick we took her to a clinic which claimed to cure cancer through this B17 treatment program.

The doctor in charge of it was recently prosecuted and disbarred (or whatever happens to doctors).

It didn't help my mother. She died 5 months after diagnosis.

It's not a clinical study.

But you'll agree that it has shown positive results in clinical series and preclinical studies, right?

I'd agree it has shown one reproduced positive result in 200 years of attention.

And it's no big deal, really. It kills one type of cell in labs. Cool. Vitamin C kills the AIDS virus in labs. That doesn't mean taking vitamin C will cure you of AIDS.

Another thing is that its not the apricot seed entirely - its the seed inside the pit. You have to crack it open like you would a peanut to get the actual seed.

I tried one once. They taste awful but there might be a way to add it to a dish to work it into one's diet.

Won't be long before someone turns it into an extract and sells it as a supplement - I'm surprised it hasn't happened already. There's gotta be a ready supply of peach and apricot pits at places that make canned and dried fruit.

It may be the case that ingesting it doesn't cure cancer but prevents it or, more likely, reduces the chances of getting it. That, to me, is a better explanation of what's going on in the Indian village if, in fact, any thing is going on at all.