Vitamin B17 (Laetrile, Amygdalin) & Its Effectiveness
What are cancer patients to do? The 30-year, 30+ billion dollar campaign to cure cancer has failed. Survival rates have not improved and many cancer patients are told, after undergoing numerous rounds of radiation and chemotherapy, there is nothing more that can be done.So the search for alternatives is often begun when the cancer has spread and there is even less hope for remission.
One popular alternative cancer cure is vitamin B17, also called amygdalin or laetrile. Derived from apricot pits, laetrile is not a vitamin.According to the entrenched cancer treatment establishment, laetrile B17 is a "toxic drug that is not effective as a cancer treatment." But according to its advocates, laetrile B17 is a natural remedy against cancer that has a high cure rate. Who can the public believe?
B17 In Apricot Pits
The Hunza Valley in remote Pakistan, where residents are reported to be immune from cancer due to their consumption of laetrile (amygdalin) B17 in apricot pits.It is the cyanide component of laetrile B17 that kills cancer cells. Laetrile was used as a cancer treatment long before the modern controversy erupted over its use.
As early as 1845, doctors were using purified amygdalin (laetrile) to treat cancer patients. In the 1920s and 30s travelers to the Hunza Valley in Pakistan claimed they couldn't find a single case of cancer among the people who lived there and attributed it to the apricot kernals that contained laetrile B17 in the Hunza diet.In controlled studies, rats with cancer appear to live longer when given leatrile B17. Most of the human studies have employed purified oral or intravenous laetrile B17, not apricot pits which are widely sold as a cancer remedy. The renowned Dr. Hans Nieper of Germany later endorsed laetrile B17 for prevention of cancer, but not as therapy for existing tumors.
One secret of the laetrile B17 cancer therapy is the described ability of an enzyme called glucuronidase to liberate cyanide from its carrier molecules and deliver it to tumor sites. Glucuronidase is more abundant where inflammation, infection and tumors occur.Therefore, the carrier molecules (nitrilosides) render laetrile B17 relatively harmless until it is unzipped by glucuronidase. When removed from its carrier, cyanide is delivered at the right place, at the right time.
Toxicity Of Vitamin B17
A report in the Journal of the American Medical Association even attests to the lack of toxicity when intravenous laetrile B17 is employed. [Journal American Medical Assn 245: 591-94, 1981]
What modern medicine did to discredit laetrile B17 was to conduct a dog study where the unzipping enzyme (glucuronidase) was prematurely produced by combining B17 with almond paste. The dogs developed nerve damage from the prematurely released cyanide.
Even advocates of natural medicine who advocate the use of laetrile B17 say it should not be used combined with apricot kernels that may pre-release cyanide, but it should be purified and administered orally or intravenously, where it is subsequently attached to carrier molecules (glucuronidated) in the liver and transported to cancerous tissues.In 1998 researchers in London attempted to activate laetrile B17 specifically at tumor sites without toxicity to healthy cells by conjoining to cloned antibodies that would direct the drug to the cancer site.
This experiment increased the cancer-destroying properties of amygdalin by 36 fold and practically eliminated toxicity! [International Journal Cancer 78: 712-19, 1998]So the advice offered by cancer doctors, that "laetrile B17 should not be used to treat cancer," apparently is correct if you are referring to apricot pits. [CA Cancer J Clin 41: 187-92, 1991]Apricot pits themselves can cause potentially fatal cyanide poisoning. [Annals Emergency Medicine 32:742-4, 1998] Laetrile B17 treatment, administered either intravenously or orally as a purified product by a physician, may be effective.
The legendary idea that the Hunza Valley people in remote Pakistan are immune from cancer is poorly founded. The people there live 40-65 years on average and they are reported to develop cancer like other Pakistanis. There are no accurate birth records to document their longevity.
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