# Swallowing cherry pits: Why not?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-cherry-pits-why-not/311723
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 9, 2005, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-cherry-pits-why-not/311723 "2005-07-09T05:57:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2005, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-cherry-pits-why-not/311723/1 "2005-07-09T05:57:52Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2005, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-cherry-pits-why-not/311723/2 "2005-07-09T06:20:15Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2005, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-cherry-pits-why-not/311723/3 "2005-07-09T12:23:38Z")
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
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### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-cherry-pits-why-not/311723/4 "2005-07-09T19:08:59Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-cherry-pits-why-not/311723/5 "2005-07-09T21:05:43Z")
**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](mailto: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.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-cherry-pits-why-not/311723/6 "2005-07-09T21:24:03Z")
[This is about roses, but it has some interesting information nonetheless:](http://museum.gov.ns.ca/poison/roses.htm)
> [@](#):
>
> 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.](http://museum.gov.ns.ca/poison/cherry.htm) 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**
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### Author:  [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2005, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-cherry-pits-why-not/311723/7 "2005-07-10T09:10:02Z")
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.