Health and Wellness - Shirley Bhaggien

Note: Please write the summary of this article in the comment

Is Vitamin B17 Treatment New?

Vitamin B17 is far from new. “Bitter almonds,” another source of vitamin B17, have been used as a traditional remedy for thousands of years by cultures, including ancient Egyptians, Chinese and Pueblo Indians. The compounds in vitamin B17 were discovered around 1802 when a chemist realized that distilling the water from bitter almonds released hydrocyanic acid and this could be purified to form amygdalin, the active ingredient of vitamin B17.

Vitamin B17 in the form of laetrile was first used as a cancer treatment in Russia back in the mid-1800s and then spread to the United States in the 1920s. By the 1970s, laetrile gained popularity as an anti-cancer agent, with more than 70,000 individuals in the U.S. alone using vitamin B17 laetrile to help treat cancer.

Today, vitamin B17 laetrile is not approved for cancer prevention or cancer treatment use in the United States. That’s because there’s little evidence to fully understand how laetrile works in humans and prove that it’s definitely safe and effective.

While vitamin B17 shows anti-cancer activity in some animal studies, the FDA feels that more information is needed regarding the effects of vitamin B17 in human clinical trials before it can be widely used to prevent disease and increase immunity. (6)

While it’s a banned substance for retailers to sell, it’s not illegal to possess or use. Therefore, some practitioners still use vitamin B17 in the form of laetrile to help treat cancer. They often obtain these supplements and extracts from Mexico, where vitamin B17 production for medicinal purposed is still supported.

Recommended Intake of Vitamin B17

At this time, there is no established daily value of vitamin B17 from the USDA. However, many physicians specializing in cancer treatment use vitamin B17 (or laetrile) in relatively high doses without patients commonly experiencing side effects.

Vitamin B17 isn’t used by many people who are relatively healthy and not suffering from a serious condition like cancer, so it’s hard to establish what the best preventative dose might be without more evidence or research.

Currently, the administration, schedules and the length of treatment with vitamin B17 vary widely depending on the patient’s specific condition and the practitioner prescribing it. Part of the trouble determining exactly how and how much vitamin B17 can be beneficial is that much of the research using vitamin B17 took place in the 1970s and ’80s but was discontinued since the ban in the 1980s.

Vitamin B17 laetrile (or amygdalin) is often taken as part of a larger therapy protocol that includes a specific diet with high doses of immune-boosting vitamins. Although no standard treatment plan exists, injecting vitamin B17 into a vein each day for two–three weeks is a commonly used method, followed by oral vitamin B17 tablets in smaller doses. Vitamin B17 extract is also used in enemas and treatments that can be directly applied to the skin. (7)

Vitamin B17, in the form of amygdalin, given intravenously at up to 4.5 grams a day produced no clinical or laboratory evidence of toxic reactions, according to one report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (8) Other studies show similar results and only report cases of toxicity when very high doses were given, causing cyanide poisoning.

Types of Vitamin B17 Supplements

Vitamin B17, or laetrile extract, can be administered orally as a pill, or it can be given by injections (intravenous or intramuscular). Most often vitamin B17 is given intravenously for a short period of time and then followed up with lower doses of oral tablets for maintenance therapy.

In the medical community, vitamin B17 injections are usually used to help prevent ortreat cancer, although these are extremely expensive, costing thousands of dollars for only a few months of treatment. Vitamin B17 injections are given to patients already undergoing chemotherapy treatments in some cases because they help offset symptoms of chemotherapy and prevent cancer reoccurrence.

Because the FDA made the purchase of vitamin B17 laetrile supplements illegal and almost impossible to obtain, many people choose to buy extracts or tablets over the Internet. A popular way to consume vitamin B17 is eating apricot kernels. In the middle of an apricot, or other fruit seeds like a peach pit or apple seed, there is a hard shell that can be broken into. Once broken, a small seed/kernel in the middle is found that looks something like a small almond — this is the part of the fruit that’s naturally high in vitamin B17.

Some people choose to purchase high quantities of apricot kernels over the Internet or pills and liquid supplements made from apricot kernels. Experts usually recommend eating 25–40 kernels per day for disease prevention or about 16 kernels and up for maintenance.

Vitamin B17 Recipes

For support with immune function, naturally increase your intake of vitamin B17 through food sources like those listed above. Getting your nutrients from whole foods means you don’t need to worry about synthetic fillers, toxins and the potential for overdosing that come along with using questionable extracts and supplements.

Here are several recipe ideas using foods high in vitamin B17:

Vitamin B17 Side Effects and Interactions

Many cases show that vitamin B17 is usually well-tolerated and doesn’t cause toxicity or harm, but some people experience side effects associated with symptoms of cyanide poisoning. Cyanide is a neurotoxin that causes a range of side effects, including nausea and vomiting, headaches, dizziness, discoloration of the skin resulting from oxygen-deprived hemoglobin in the blood, liver damage, abnormally low blood pressure, mental confusion, and even death.

Oral vitamin B17 is considered more dangerous and prone to cyanide poising than injected laetrile. These side effects are increased by eating raw almonds or crushed fruit pits, or by eating fruits and vegetables that contain beta-glucosidase enzymes — including celery, peaches, bean sprouts and carrots.

High doses of vitamin C can also add to harmful side effects when taking vitamin B17. On the other hand, consuming foods that contain acid, specifically hydrochloric acid, helps prevent side effects of vitamin B17. These include citrus fruits like lemon, orange or grapefruit.

A couple of serious warnings to keep in mind regarding interactions of vitamin B17 include the fact that it can lower blood pressure drastically in some cases and also cause blood thinning. So it should never be used with other blood pressure medications or prescriptions known to thin blood. It’s also not recommended to take vitamin B17 with probiotics because probiotics may enhance the effects of cyanide and lead to cyanide poisoning in some rare cases.