Eating seeds from different fruits

This Week In The HSI Healthier Talk Community

At this time of year when many people are getting ready to plant seeds, a few HSI members are thinking about eating them.

A member named Naturalway poses this question in a thread titled “Seeds” which can be found on the General Health Topics forum: “Does anyone eat or know about the eating of seeds of different fruits, such as grapes, citrus, etc.? Is it good for you? Are any poisonous? I usually buy purple grapes and eat the seeds and grapefruit seeds under the premise that they are good for you.”

Naturalway makes note of a web site, “which states that you should eat the pips from fruit to get vit B-17 a nutrient drastically lacking in our diet. I wasn’t sure if you could eat apple seeds – I heard they were poisonous but apparently not. It said you should just eat the seeds of the fruit you would normally eat, don’t eat extra seeds.”

Pips? Seeds? A UK resident named Jo starts off a discussion about the British use of the word “pips” for “seeds,” and a member named Timco gets into the “pip” swing of it with this question: “When we talk about eating the pips, are we talking about swallowing them whole or do they need to be chewed?”

Jo’s response: “I would chew the pips or seeds, depending on which country I was in!! Apricot – er – seeds? are nicely nutty and can be a touch bitter. I have always eaten apple or pear seedpips, to my husband’s horror. Someone taught him in his childhood that swallowing them gave you appendicitis.”

Naturalway says she chews papaya seeds for their “anti-parasite” effect, and adds: “I’m beginning to think the sweet part of the fruit is just a distraction or a reward for eating the other parts. Last night I ate the inside of prune pits. They were really delicious, tasted just like amaretto, but then this morning I got a little scared, thinking, didn’t I read somewhere that arsenic or cyanide tasted like amaretto? Apparently cyanide because that’s what’s in the pits. It seems a little strange to get used to the idea that a little cyanide is okay. My husband has always eaten the pits of fruits and he’s okay. I also read that the cyanide kills the cancer cells and leaves the healthy cells alone.”

“Funny,” says a member named Rosnor, “I’ve just been reading about this today.” Rosner goes on to offer the information that “stone fruits” (such as apricots, cherries and plums) contain seeds with cyanide compounds that can be extremely toxic if consumed in excess. He writes, “I think a few apple seeds a day wouldn’t hurt. I had some apple pips last night. They tasted like almonds, very nice. And to think I just used to throw them away. I am going to make a point of having more, as I am low in iron, and need all the help I can get!”

A Healthier Talk community regular named Gerry posted a list of seeds, nuts and other foods that contain vitamin B-17 on another forum, and Naturalway has listed them here. They include pumpkin seeds, seeds of fruits (except citrus), walnuts, almonds, peanuts, sprouts, beans and chickpeas. And Naturalway adds this note: “Grains are seeds too but polishing of rice and refining of wheat removes B17 as well as other nutrients.”

Other topics being discussed this week in the Healthier Talk community forums include:

Vitamin Questions: Red yeast rice
Hormones: Peri-menopause
Cancer: Ozone cure for cancer
General Health Topics: Restless legs
Allergies: Asthma
Vision: Wheat free with greatly improved vision

You can easily reach the HSI Healthier Talk community forums on our web site at www.hsionline.com. Just choose “Forum,” and join in with any of the dozens of discussions about nutrition and natural health care.