It’s hard to believe, but one of the most reliable, safe, and inexpensive solutions for cancer has not only been marginalized by mainstream oncology, but by the alternative health crowd as well. Some insiders, even those among the well trained medically, decry laetrile or apricot seed effectiveness while fear mongering its supposed toxic elements.
So I need to address the toxic issue right away. The natural source of laetrile or B17 found most substantially in apricot seed kernels is legally available as long as it’s not promoted to benefit cancer patients. It has to be a food supplement only. That natural substance source is amygdalin. Unfortunately, many falsely believe this poses a serious cyanide poisoning threat.
The amygdalin compound has four molecules. Two are glucose molecules. The other two are cyanide and benzaldyhide. The latter two perform a couple of unusual metabolic activities: they are released by and into cancer cells only. Otherwise, they remain in the amygdalin compound and are passed through.
It’s a very clever arrangement. The cancer cells depend on fermenting sugar (glucose) for their energy instead of oxygen. So the cancer cells attract the amygdalin compounds for their glucose, but are whacked when they metabolize those compounds that free the benzalldyhide and cyanide. The glucose is the sugar bait.
Cancer cells contain an enzyme that is not found in healthy cells, beta-glucosidase. This enzyme “unlocks” the amygdalin compound, releasing the deadly toxins within the cancer cell. Only cancer cells metabolize amygdalin. Healthy normal cells don’t.
Most non-cancerous cells contain another enzyme, rhodanese. The few free cyanide molecules that may conceivably escape are bound to sulfur molecules by rhodanese, creating harmless cyanates that are eliminated in the urine. Safe enough?
Many, many cancer victims have used apricot seeds to cure themselves, consuming 30 and more per day. Here’s an example from “down under” (Australia), quoted from a March 20, 2010 Sydney Morning Herald article by Jill Stark: “Paul Reid should be dead. Diagnosed with a rare, incurable lymphoma, he was given five years, seven tops, by his oncologist.”
His cancer curing protocol consisted of consuming 30 apricot kernels per day. Looks like he survived all that cyanide! The article included a photo of a healthy Reid, smiling with a platter full of fresh organic foods at age 68, 13 years after his prognosis. He did adjust his eating habits by eliminating red meat, processed foods, and sugar.
