Amygdalin is a compound found in much of our whole raw food supply and is most abundant in the seeds of non-citrus fruits.
Most commercially prepared Amygdalin is extracted from the seeds of apricot. It is composed of two molecules of glucose (a sugar), one molecule of benzaldehyde ( an analgesic) and one molecule of hydrocyanic acid (an anti-neoplastic compound). In metabolic therapy, the Amygdalin (Laetrile-Vitamin B17) is broken down into its component parts as a result of the action of the beta-glucosidase enzyme.
This enzyme is found in abundance in cancer cells and is relatively deficient in normal cells. Consequently, the cyanide is released primarily where there is an active cancer lesion.
This absence of cyanide toxicity is further insured by the action of rhodanese, another enzyme which is present in large quantities in normal cells in very small amounts in cancer cells. Detoxification of cyanide occurs, therefore, in normal malignant tissue through the action of rhodanese which, in the presence of sulphur-bearing compounds, converts free cyanide to thiocynate, a perfectly nontoxic compound. Then thiocyanate is excreted in urine.
The main use for Amygdalin (Laetrile/Vitamin B17) is in treatment of cancer, particularly to reduce tumor size, to restrict the spreading of cancer cells and to alleviate pains associated with the cancerous process. Other uses reported for Amygdalin (Laetrile/Vitamin B17) have been in the treatment of hypertension and rheumatism. There are no known problems caused by the lack of this vitamin other than that, theoretically, a deficiency in it could increase the likelihood of developing cancer.
Amygdalin (Laetrile/Vitamin B17) is a controversial vitamin thought by many to be essential to health. Drs. Krebs advanced the theory that cancer was not caused by some kind of mysterious bacterium, virus, or toxin, but merely a “metabolic deficiency disease” developing from the lack of an essential food compound in modern man’s diet. He identified this compound as part of the nitriloside family occurring in nature in over twelve hundred edible plants found throughout the world.
Amygdalin Laetrile Vitamin B-17
There are well-documented standards of living that exist in various cultures that have in a way per se proven this theory, one of them is the tiny kingdom called Hunza that exists between west Pakistan, India, and China. The people there are known for their amazing longevity and good health. Visiting medical teams from the outside reported that they found no cancer in Hunza.
In 1973 Prince Mohammed Ameen Khan , son of the Mir of Hunza told Charles Hillinger of Los Angeles Times that the Hunzakuts average life expectancy is about eighty five years. It is not uncommon for them to live from one hundred years to a hundred and twenty or more. Even though science cannot explain why these people live free of cancer it is interesting to note that their diet contains over two -hundred times more nitriloside than the average American diet. A man’s wealth in Hunza was measured by the number of apricot trees he owned, and the most prized of all foods was considered to be the apricot seed.
