# Apricots - cyanogenetic glycosides and Cancer
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [December 3, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751 "2003-12-03T18:50:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@brettzwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brettzwo)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751/1 "2003-12-03T18:50:17Z")
This is a comment on Cecil’s column: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_212.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_212.html)
Check out a great book on Laetrile called “World Without Cancer.” I believe written by Edward Griffin. There is some great information about the entire conspiracy surrounding Laetrile and cyanogenetic glycosides.
Lots of good information in this book on how naturally occuring cyanogenetic glycosides in food can reduce the risks of getting cancer and how treatment with this substance has been proven to be effective in treating cancer.
Many countries (Germany, Mexico, Other European countries) have alternative medical treatment facilities where you can get straight injections of unnatural amounts of the stuff. As with anything, too much can be a lethal amount. Many of the foods we eat in their raw forms contain this substance, but processing, overcooking, and genetic modificaton have taken the trace amounts of this out of many foods. Many patients are being told to eat more raw, unprocessed foods by their Doctors because it can decrease the risk of getting cancer. Many of these foods contain the naturally occuring cyanogenetic glycosides that can fight cancer cells. An intersting study in the book looks at a study done on the Hunza tribe (India/China area) that have been eating a considerable amount of these in their daily diets for 1000’s of years without harm.
Bitter almonds and apricot kernels have the highest concentrations of cyanogenetic glycosides. Just don’t eat too many of them like anything else.
Read all about it in “World Without Cancer.” There is a lot of good medically backed information in there.
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### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751/2 "2003-12-04T02:15:41Z")
We don’t need propaganda from mass murderers, thank you very much.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751/3 "2003-12-04T06:45:44Z")
Quackwatch article on Laetrile.
[http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Cancer/laetrile.html](http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Cancer/laetrile.html)
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> In July 1980, the NCI undertook clinical trials of 178 cancer patients who received Laetrile, vitamins and enzymes at the Mayo Clinic and three other prominent cancer centers. The study included patients for whom no other treatment had been effective or for whom no proven treatment was known. All patients had tumor masses that could easily be measured, but most of the patients were in good physical condition. Since Laetrile proponents were unable to agree on the formula or testing protocol for Laetrile, NCI decided to use a preparation that corresponded to the substance distributed by the major Mexican supplier, American Biologics. The preparation was supplied by the NCI Pharmaceutical Resources Branch and verified by a variety of tests. The dosage of Laetrile was based on the published recommendations of Krebs, Jr., and the Bradford Foundation.
>
> The results of the trial were clear-cut. Not one patient was cured or even stabilized. The median survival rate was 4.8 months from the start of therapy, and in those still alive after seven months, tumor size had increased. This was the expected result for patients receiving no treatment at all. In addition, several patients experienced symptoms of cyanide toxicity or had blood levels of cyanide approaching the lethal range [7].
_Precis_ of Griffin’s book.
[http://www.theroadlesstravelledby.com/html/wwc-contents.htm](http://www.theroadlesstravelledby.com/html/wwc-contents.htm)
Pretty standard “it’s all a giant conspiracy on the part of the FDA, the AMA, the pharmaceutical cartel, and the Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundations to suppress me!” stuff.
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### Author:  [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2003, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751/4 "2003-12-04T13:40:33Z")
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> \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \*
> \*\*Pretty standard “it’s all a giant conspiracy on the part of the FDA, the AMA, the pharmaceutical cartel, and the Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundations to suppress me!” stuff. \*\*
You forgot to include the Trilateral Commission, the Illuminati, and the Spanish Inquistion.
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### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2003, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751/5 "2003-12-05T02:27:52Z")
What about the Stratford-on-Avon Tourism Board?
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### Author:  [@brettzwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brettzwo)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751/6 "2003-12-06T02:05:00Z")
John W. Kennedy is a Murderer?
What?
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### Author:  [@brettzwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brettzwo)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751/7 "2003-12-06T02:21:22Z")
## quote:
Quackwatch article on Laetrile.
## [http://www.quackwatch.org/01Quacker...r/laetrile.html](http://www.quackwatch.org/01Quacker...r/laetrile.html)
Who the hell is this Benjamin Wilson, M.D. who wrote this article? Doesn’t seem like he is very legit.
Doesn’t seem very professional. Bad grammar and bad references.
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### Author:  [@brettzwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brettzwo)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751/8 "2003-12-06T02:50:29Z")
## quote:
## Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose Pretty standard “it’s all a giant conspiracy on the part of the FDA, the AMA, the pharmaceutical cartel, and the Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundations to suppress me!” stuff.
When you say Laetrile is standard consipracy, you are forgetting that conspiracy is the very thing the Laetrile supporters were accused of doing? Very inconsistent. You are telling me you believe everything the AMA, FDA, etc. are telling you? There is no conspiracy on their part, only on the part of the Laetrile advocates? That is illogical, and historically innaccurate.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751/9 "2003-12-07T02:41:11Z")
> [@](#):
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> Who the hell is this Benjamin Wilson, M.D. who wrote this article? Doesn’t seem like he is very legit.
Just because you’ve never heard of him doesn’t mean anything. What counts are the facts that he’s reporting.
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> Bad grammar
Be so kind as to enumerate for us some examples of bad grammar from the article.
Also, what difference does his grammar make? What counts are his facts.
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> and bad references.
Be so kind as to enumerate which of his references you consider “bad”. And explain why you consider them “bad”.
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> You are telling me you believe everything the AMA, FDA, etc. are telling you?
Yes.
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> There is no conspiracy on their part, only on the part of the Laetrile advocates?
Right.
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> That is illogical
How is it illogical?
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> and historically innaccurate.
In what way?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751/10 "2003-12-07T20:34:17Z")
Let’s look at motivations for a moment here. Does any cancer researcher have a motivation for surpressing a genuine cancer cure? Hardly. Demonstrate a cure for cancer, and you’re looking at fame, fortune, the Nobel prize, the attention of members of the appropriate sex, glory, you name it. Not to mention a significant increase in life expectancy for the discoverer and his or her loved ones. There’s no payoff any conspiracy could possibly offer you that’s anywhere near that good.
Now, is there any motivation for an author to claim that he has a cancer cure when he doesn’t? Certainly. It sells plenty of books, and since he doesn’t actually have a cure, he can’t benefit from it in any other way.
So, given the motivations, whom do you think is more likely to be lying, the millions of people working in pharmaceuticals and research who want to cure cancer, or the book author who says they don’t?
The reason that **John W. Kennedy** labells peddlers of “alternative medicine” as murderers is that many people will die as a result of their actions. The thing is, we can treat cancer, via surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. We still can’t cure it yet, unfortunately, but what we have is a lot better than nothing. But “alternative medicine” is synonymous with “medicine that doesn’t work”. Encouraging people to use alternative medicine instead of conventional medicine (AKA “medicine that works”) is encouraging them to their deaths.
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### Author:  [@brettzwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brettzwo)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751/11 "2003-12-24T17:56:50Z")
Duck Duck Goose. It’s a known fact that many groups including the AMA, FDA, and CDC have conspired for material gain and fame. Do a little research and you won’t be hoodwinked any longer.
Chronos
Demonstrating a cure for cancer through nature would indeed unline the pockets of the folks trying to treat cancer with therapies that are more harmful that helpful (chemo, surgery, radiation, etc…since when were these safe? these can actually kill you long before the cancer).
World With Out Cancer is not claiming a cure for cancer. It is simply stating that through proper nutrition, one can decrease the severity or possiblity of cancer. In fact, most medical groups and individual doctors now subscribe to just that…proper nutrition/diet to inhibit cancer and many other diseases!!!
Most alternative medicine is for long term treatment, not instant cure treatments that do more harm than good like chemo, radiation, etc.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2003, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751/12 "2003-12-24T19:58:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by brettzwo \*
> \*\*Duck Duck Goose. It’s a known fact that many groups including the AMA, FDA, and CDC have conspired for material gain and fame. Do a little research and you won’t be hoodwinked any longer.
> \*\*
This is clearly not a “known fact” since currently everyone who has responded to you has claimed otherwise. If you are going to make claims like this you will need to back it up with something other than flowery prose.
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> \*\*
> Chronos
> Demonstrating a cure for cancer through nature would indeed unline the pockets of the folks trying to treat cancer with therapies that are more harmful that helpful (chemo, surgery, radiation, etc…since when were these safe? these can actually kill you long before the cancer).
> \*\*
And yet people are being cured of cancer and surviving at rates 10 times as previously. Since there are hard results of successful treatments, it seems disingenuous to complain about the fact that it doesn’t work 100%.
And for your conspiracy theory, show some facts that support it. People all over the world have motivations for lots of things that they don’t follow up on. Why do you think that tens of thousands of scientists, doctors, and researchers would go along with this scheme without a single one blowing the whistle?
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### Author:  [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apricots-cyanogenetic-glycosides-and-cancer/216751/13 "2003-12-26T03:07:32Z")
Cyano **genic** meaning cyanide-forming.
[sup]I don’t usually do this but it’s Christmas, I’m at work, and bored.[/sup]