Is there enough cyanide in apple pips to kill a human?

beeaydee

What, exactly, ARE apple pips? I've never heard of them. Jan 24 07, 5:21 AM

zbeckabee

A pip is the small seed of a fruit, as that of an apple or orange. Apple seeds contain "trace" elements of cyanide and there is some disagreement as to the actual quantity that would be required in order to "kill." The seeds of one apple will probably NOT do the deed. http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch39.html Jan 24 07, 5:35 AM

Kpclark

I have been eating the entire apple including the pips for years and have suffered no ill effects even after eating 6-8 apples in one day. Jan 24 07, 9:09 AM

star_gazer

The 9th apple would have done it though. Jan 24 07, 10:47 AM

skysmom65

We routinely come into contact with naturally occurring poisons in a number of the fruits we ingest. Apples are one such fruit: their pips (seeds) contain amygdalin, a cyanide and sugar compound that degrades into hydrogen cyanide (HCN) when metabolized. Cyanide itself is a poison that kills by denying blood the ability to carry oxygen and thereby causes its victims to die of asphyxiation. Once a fatal dose has been ingested, there is no effective antidote, and death takes place within minutes. Luckily for those fond of their Granny Smiths, the body can detoxify cyanide in small doses, and the number of apple seeds it takes to pack a lethal punch is therefore huge — even the most dedicated of apple eaters is extremely unlikely to ingest enough pips to cause any harm. Yet those who have heard apple seeds house a poison cling to the frightening belief that swallowing a small number of pips spells instant death. We've had folks fret to us that ingesting as few as three apple seeds would do someone in, a "fact" which, if true, would mean each and every one of us was flirting with the grim reaper every time we made a grab for a Delicious. Apple pips also have a tough protective coating which makes swallowing them even less of a risky proposition; unless the pips are pulverized or masticated, the amygdalin they house remains safely contained within. Apple pips have hard, durable shells that allow them to pass intact through the digestive systems of animals, a quality which helps the apple to reproduce by distributing its seeds to new locations far from the originating trees. Were apple pips susceptible to the eroding effects of digestive juices, apple trees could not reproduce nearly as well as they do — their seeds would not be so widely spread, and a good many of the pips would be destroyed before germinating.http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/apples.asp Jan 24 07, 10:52 AM

What-A-Mess

Kp...... You most likely, after all these apple pips, have a high threshold for Cyanide. It does work that way you know! Jan 24 07, 3:55 PM

What-A-Mess

Check out this article about Apricot Pits.... http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F0CE2D71630F935A15750C0A965958260 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F0CE2D71630F935A15750C0A965958260 Jan 24 07, 3:56 PM