Swallowing cherry pits: Why not?

[Derleth]

I have been eating cherries and while I consistently discard the stems, I see no reason to spit out pits all the time. It’s to my mind a waste of time and effort, given that they will pass unharmed through my GI tract and end up painlessly voided into the porcelain lagoon.

Or will they? I have been thinking about how perverse the Universe is and how bad my luck is, so is there a good reason why I should cease swallowing cherry pits?

[Larry_Mudd]

I accidentally swallowed one today, and usually do if I eat more than one or two.

I’m not terribly worried about it, although according to a popular Japanese folk tale, the eventual consequence of swallowing a cherry pit is turning into a placid pond. I’m not sure if it only applies to tax collectors, though.

@James Joyce

Mutt. – Meldundleize! By the fearse wave behoughted. Despond’s sung. And thanacestross mound have swollup them all.

[Reeder]

Cherry pits like apple seeds, contain cyanide. So don’t eat them in mass quantity. But just a few here and there won’t be a problem

[Tim_T-Bonham.net]

Cherry pits contain no appreciable nutrients. So your body is wasting energy in trying to digest something that won’t provide a nutritional payback.

So it’s wasteful, that’s why not.

[Derleth]

Reeder, is the cyanide in a cherry pit bioavailable at all? That is, can my gut extract it from the uncrushed seed?

t-bonham@scc.net, it’s more conscious work for me to spit them out than it is to just swallow them and let my gut do the work.

The cyanide is mildly worrisome. I will have to do some research and sort this out.

[Derleth]

This is about roses, but it has some interesting information nonetheless:

SYMPTOMS:
In very small doses, the human digestive tract is capable of breaking down plant cyanides into harmless compounds. Accidental ingestion of a single apple seed or cherry pit, therefore, though NOT recommended, is unlikely to cause any serious trouble.

However, larger doses cause anxiety, confusion, dizziness, headaches & vomiting. In severe poisoning, breathing difficulty; increased blood pressure and heart rate; and kidney failure are follwed by coma & convulsions. Death may then occur rapidly from respiratory arrest.

I think the symptoms are easy enough to spot that I won’t have any problems knowing when I’ve fucked up and need to go to the ICU. Plus, it appears that swallowing the occasional pit, and I haven’t been going wild with the cherries, is no cause for alarm.

I’ve apparently danced with death before. I used to love eating raw chokecherries, and while I’m pretty sure I did spit out the pips I can’t be sure I always did. In any case, I’m still here.

Yer pal,
Bitter Almond Joy

[kimera]

We had cherry trees in our backyard and I ate a LOT of cherry pits while growing up. I can’t remember what’s the most I’ve eaten in one sitting but 10-12 is entirely possible.