Vitamin B17, also called amygdalin or laetrile, is a glycoside nutrient linked with cancer prevention in alternative medicine practices — and there are anecdotal claims that it’s actually cured cancer. Vitamin B17 is derived from natural food sources and most abundant in seeds of plants of the prunasin family, such as apricots and apples.
Vitamin B17 interacts with other antioxidants — including vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin E — along with pancreatic enzymes to break down and eliminate harmful cells from the body. This makes it beneficial for detox support, immunity and potentially even various forms of disease prevention.
Vitamin B17, which has the scientific name mandelonitrile beta-D-gentiobioside, is considered a nitriloside, a natural cyanide-containing substance. Laetrile, the extract form of vitamin B17, is most well-known for potentially helping prevent cancer development through the production of hydrogen cyanide.
This beneficial compound is released into the body’s tissues and targets and destroys mutated cells. Although more formal research is still needed to prove vitamin B17’s effectiveness, many alternative medicine practitioners use vitamin B17 to increase immunity. Cyanide is thought to be the main anti-cancer component of vitamin B17 but is not fully proven in clinical settings as of today.
Dr. Kanematsu Suigura spent the majority of his career at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and has authored more than 250 papers; he has also received numerous awards, one of which included the highest honors from the Japan Medical Association for outstanding contributions in cancer research. He specifically studied Laetrile and discovered that it showed very positive results with preventing malignant lung tumors in laboratory mice. In control groups which received only plain saline, the lung tumors spread to between 80 and 90 percent of the mice, but in those given Laetrile, the tumors only spread to between 10 and 20 percent.
Even though Laetrile is not a U.S Government approved cancer treatment, there are doctors who are choosing to use it ‘illegally,’ like John A. Richardson. He has been treating cancer patients at his clinic in San Francisco, California and it has been working a whole lot better than the traditional methods of treatment. His numerous success stories are documented in his book Laetrile Case Histories: The Richardson Cancer Clinic Experience.
Cancer survivor Chris writes extensively about the benefits of Vitamin B17 and how this fact has been supressed for so many decades. Read the article here
Fruits and vegetables that contain Vitamin B17:
Apricot seeds
One of the best sources.
Berries
Many types of berries contain vitamin B17, such as strawberries, blueberries, huckleberries and cranberries. Health.CentreForce.com states that a serving of blackberries, gooseberries, boysenberries, raspberries or elderberries can provide 500 milligrams of vitamin B17.
Shoots, Sprouts and Leafy Greans
According to VitaminB17.org, 100 grams of bamboo shoots contain around 500 milligrams of vitamin B17. Sprouts and leafy green sources like alfalfa, spinach and eucalyptus contain about 100 milligrams of vitamin B17 per 100 grams.
Legumes
A number of legumes contain vitamin B17 properties. Lima beans and chick peas both hold between 100 and 500 milligrams of B17, according to Health.CentreForce.com. Other legumes and bean sources of vitamin B17 include lentils, green peas and kidney and fava beans.