Vitamin B17: Able to Treat and Prevent Cancer, or Pure Poison?
So, you’ve heard of B6, B12, and even B-complex vitamins, but likely not vitamin B17. This powerful vitamin substance shown to halt cancer has also been called poison. So which is it: a natural treatment, or ‘quackery?’
Vitamin B17 is patented in the U.S. as Laetrile, but used in Mexico simply as crushed apricot pits, without boiling the seeds and turning them to ethanol, which then produces benzaldehyde. You can also find the tampered-with version as laevomandelonitrile, the man-made version of B17, and amygdalin, the natural version of B17.
According to the National Cancer Society, Laetrile is staggeringly lethal, and even makes cancer tumors grow larger. The US government has made B17 downright illegal, so why are many naturalists saying apricot seeds, which are naturally full of vitamin B17, are extremely effective at curing cancer?
Further commentary from the Mayo clinic suggests that B17 poses toxicity risks due to ‘significant levels of cyanide in the blood of patients.” They also claimed that there was no scientific basis for Vitamin B17 to treat cancer. So what’s the story? Are we to trust large hospitals or special interest organizations backed by Big Pharma or research like this:
For five years, between 1972 and 1977 laetrile was meticulously tested at Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in Manhattan under the direction of Dr. Sugiura. At the conclusion of his experiment he reported five results:
- 1. Laetrile stopped metastasis (the spreading of cancer) in mice.
- 2. It improved their general health.
- 3. It inhibited the growth of small tumors.
- 4. It provided relief from pain.
- 5. It acted as a cancer prevention.
The Sloan-Kettering Cover-up
Furthermore, the efficacy of B17 for cancer prevention has been called a down-right cover up:
“Ralph W. Moss gives an excellent overview of the political and scientific controversy that has surrounded laetrile in his book The Cancer Industry. He states, ‘Although spokespersons for orthodox medicine continue to deny that there have been any animal study data in favor of laetrile, this is contradicted by a number of studies, including—but not limited to—those at Sloan-Kettering.'”
Other supporters of B17 who continued the research started by Sloan-Kettering say Vitamin B17 is definitely a cancer-treatment and preventative. Dr. Manuel T. Navarro, and Robert Bradford of the Committee of Freedom of Choice are among them.
Is Vitamin B17 another great natural cancer treatment that the pharmaceutical companies silenced since the C-word is big business, or is it truly a poisonous substance that can kill us and make our cancer worse. With the government’s track record of late, like calling walnuts illegal drugs, it would probably be best for you to do your own research and decide what you believe.
Common Names: Apricot pits, vitamin B17, mandelonitrile-beta-glucuronide (semi-synthetic), mandelonitrile beta-D-gentiobioside (natural product), laevorotatory, mandelonitrile, and prunasin.
Brand Names: Laetrile®, Amigdalina, NovoDalin B17.
Additional Sources:
Vitamin B17 is a natural cyanide-containing compound that gives up its cyanide content only in the presence of a particular enzyme group called beta glucosidase or glucuronidase. Miraculously, this enzyme group is found almost exclusively in cancer cells. If found elsewhere in the body, it is accompanied by greater quantities of another enzyme, rhodanese, which has the ability to disable the cyanide and convert it into completely harmless substances. Cancer tissues do not have this protecting enzyme.
So, according to past scientific knowledge, cancer cells are faced with a double threat: the presence of one enzyme exposing them to cyanide, while the absence of another enzyme found in all other normal cells results in the cancer's failure to detoxify itself. Leave it to nature to provide a form of cyanide that can naturally destroy a cancer cell. The cancer cells that are unable to withstand the cyanide are destroyed, while the non-cancerous cells are not threatened by the cyanide, and, therefore, remain unharmed. Never underestimate the body's potential!
I've been eating ten apricot pits per day for three or four years (along with vitamin D, selenium, curry powder, and other vitamins) and the alleged cyanide has had no noticeable effect on me. I can't prove that this regimen has prevented cancer, but it doesn't seem to have harmed me.
Turkey was the worst hit by Chernobyl, California by Fukushima radiation. Do not source your apricots from either.
B17 is also found in flax seeds and apple seeds, and in many other grasses and seeds.
“In 1978, the National Cancer Institute conducted a case study, soliciting information from 400,000 medical professionals. Data derived from this case study showed that only 93 out of 75,000 patients who had taken vitamin B-17 reported any improvement. No evidence of anti-cancer or anti-tumor benefits has been found in 20 years of scientific testing on animals, according to the American Cancer Society, which also cites a clinical trial conducted in 1981 that showed no anti-cancer benefit of vitamin B-17.” And because B-17 comes from fruit pits, it is also a source/chance or consuming cyanide, which is naturally found in fruit pits too . . .
The Challenge is that you are trusting US Government sources and the American Cancer society. The same organization whose president (some ten years ago); when asked: What is the primary goal of the ACS, and his response was “To keep patients comfortable until they die!”
Expecting the US government and the ACS to tell you the truth is like putting a Fox in charge of your hen house and trusting him to give you an accurate count of chickens every night.