“When administered to cancer patients, laetrile has proven to be quite free from any harmful side effects, and I would say that no anti-cancer drug could make a cancerous patient improve faster than laetrile. It goes without saying that laetrile controls cancer and is quite effective whenever it is located.” Dr. Shigeaki Sakai – a prominent Tokyo physician reports in Oct. 1963.
The history of Vitamin b17/ laetrile
Laetrile or Vitamin B 17 is a compound that can be found in bitter almonds (which are illegal in the US) as well as in the pits of apricots, peaches, and cherries, and in the seeds of apples, strawberries, and red or black raspberries. Other foods that contain a small amount of laetrile are chick peas, lentils, Lima beans, cashews, brown rice, buckwheat, millet and wheatgrass. Most modern day diets are lacking in the foods that contain a significant amount of the compound and supporters believe that the body requires some amount of this nutrient in order to prevent and heal from cancer.
The video and book World Without Cancer; The Story of Vitamin B17 tells about the early history of the compound and the interest that has surrounded it over the years. Much of the controversy regarding it took place from the 1950’s – 70’s, and it has even been tested a few times in a laboratory setting but each time it had reportedly failed to show any promise for the treatment of cancer. But still the public remained unconvinced, and in order to quell the demand once and for all, laetrile became the subject of a 5 year study at The Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute from 1972-1977, and a second study in 1981.
The following information was shared by Ralph Moss in the documentary Second Opinion: Laetrile At Sloan-Kettering, which details the cover-up that he witnessed first-hand while serving as the Public Relations Director for Sloan-Kettering during the length of the study. Ralph states that he was told by hospital administration that laetrile was not showing success during the early experimentation and that he needed to relay that information if anyone were to ask about the study. Awhile later Ralph met with Kanematsu Sugiura, who was the senior scientist in charge of the testing so that he could get more details about the experiments. To Ralph’s surprise, Sugiura’s was impressed with laetrile as his experiments were clearly showing that laetrile had significantly inhibited the growth of primary tumors, and more surprisingly, there was an 80% decrease in the appearance of lung metastasis in mice with spontaneous mammary tumors compared to the control mice. Suriura stated, “laetrile had provided the best effect against tumor metastasis that he had witnessed in his 60 years of research.”
Ralph was immediately suspicious of the motives of the hospital, so he spent the next few years documenting the cover-up efforts from the medical professionals working at Sloan Kettering as well as from other officials working at NCI, FDA and ACS, who all seemed to be working collectively to discredit laetrile. This knowledge bothered Ralph deeply but he was very conflicted as he didn’t want to risk losing his job.
Finally, in June 15, 1977, Sloan held a press conference to report on the results of the 5-year study with laetrile. All of the top cancer officials at Sloan proclaimed in unison that laetrile had failed to show any promise as a cancer treatment even though these statements were in direct conflict with Sugiura’s data that was buried within the report. Ralph was so disgusted that he held a second press conference to blow the whistle on the cover-up efforts that he had witnessed but he was immediately fired and attacked publicly by Sloan-Kettering and the American Cancer Society.
For more information on Ralph’s first hand account, please watch the film Second Opinion: Laetrile At Sloan-Kettering.
Studies relating to Laetrile
In 1981, the National Cancer Institute announced “that they had performed the most definitive study on laetrile to date, which proved beyond any shadow of doubt that laetrile was worthless as a treatment for cancer.” But after studying the research, Ralph points out that these trials appeared to have been designed to fail.
Dr Charles Moertel was in charge of the study and he had already publicly proclaimed himself to be “a sworn enemy of all forms of alternative medicine,” so bias and a conflict of interest appeared to be present from the start.
The 178 patients that were involved in the study were all suffering from very advanced stage 4 cancers and all had had prior chemotherapy treatments. When these extremely ill patients failed to respond to laetrile it was determined that it must be worthless. But Ralph points out that there was no randomization to the trial. What if some of these patients had been given chemotherapy, while others were given laetrile and then their mortality rates were judged? What if laetrile’s mortality rate turned out to be the same, or even slightly better than that of chemotherapy? Then the public would have realized that there was a very cheap product available that did not cause extreme toxicity to the body~ one that did not cause a patient to feel deathly ill or lose their hair. Ralph later when on to write several definitive books on the politics related to alternative cancer research and maintains the website Cancer Decisions.
How the compound works:
Vitamin B-17 is a molecule made up of four parts: 2 parts Glucose, 1 part Benzaldahyde, 1 part Hydrogen Cyanide (which is also found in vitamin b12).
It is important to note that the body has the necessary compounds to either neutralize the B17 molecules or to unlock to them at the site of cancer. This is because the enzyme rhodanese is found in normal healthy cells and it automatically neutralizes the Benzaldahyde and Hydrogen Cyanide, converting them into harmless compounds which the body will excrete. Rhodanese is found everywhere in the body except for in (or around) cancer cells or tumors.
In contrast, Beta-Glucosidase is found only at the site of cancer and is referred to as the “unlocking enzyme” since it unlocks the cyanide and benzaldahyde where cancerous cells and tumors are present. When glucose delivers the B-17 molecules to the cancerous cells, they are unable to neutralize the cyanide since they lack the rhodanese enzyme, so instead, the cyanide and benzaldahyde are released at the site of cancer allowing them to target the cancer cells directly. Please watch the video that is linked below for a more complete explanation of this therapy.
Laetrile Dosage:
- Vitamin B 17 or laetrile is not a stand-alone therapy but is something that can be used in addition to other protocols.
- Laetrile or B17 is not equally effective for all types of cancer. In a 1977 study, Rubin found that the compound was most effective for treating cancer of the lungs, prostate, breast, liver, and brain, as well as lymphomas but was somewhat less effective in certain others such as sarcomas and melanomas, and had relatively poor results for the various types of leukemia.
- Organic Bitter Apricot Kernels can be found online. Always look for organic raw bitter kernels.
- For a person with an active cancer: experts in the alternative medical field recommend 24 to 40 apricot kernels per day and spreading them throughout the day. It’s important to start out slowly by eating only 2-4 per day and gradually building yourself to the higher amounts.
- For a person in remission: 1 kernel per 10 pounds of body weight, once again starting with 2-4 per day and building up to higher amounts.
- Kernels should be taken at mealtimes. They can be chewed whole or run through a coffee grinder and then sprinkled into or onto foods such as smoothies, as an addition to oatmeal or homemade yogurt, topping for salads, added to the Budwig cottage cheese/flax oil mixture, etc.
- Vitamin B17 Tablets can also be purchased online. Tablets are taken with water 1/2 hour before eating a meal. Start with one tablet per day and then building up to 4 per day (or 2,000 mg).
- Tablets and kernels can be taken in combination with each other.
- Various alternative clinics in Mexico offer intravenous laetrile therapy as part of their cancer treatment protocols. This treatment is illegal in the US.
- Do not take high-strength probiotics while taking apricot kernels as this may increase the amount of free hydrogen cyanide and this may create adverse side effects of the digestive system.
The following supplements are recommended in order for laetrile to work properly.
- Zinc, which is used to transport the laetrile to the cancer.
- Pancreatic enzymes– which have the ability to break down the fibrin (protein layer) that surrounds cancerous tumors as this helps the laetrile and the immune system to target and destroy them. Read more about enzyme therapy.
- DMG Capsules- works in tandem with B17 and Recommendation is 1 pill taken 3 times per day with your meals.
- Taking a Whole Food multivitamin and Mineral Supplement should help to cover any other nutritional shortfalls.
Contraindications:
- Do not take high-strength probiotics while taking apricot kernels or tablets as this may increase the amount of free hydrogen cyanide and this may create adverse side effects
- Apricot kernels generally combine very well with other alternative protocols
- Start with a low dosage and then build up slowly to an optimal dosage
Testimonials:
Carl O Helvie used B17 to treat his terminal lung cancer
Sandi Rog credits B17 with curing her stage 4 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
Felicity Corbin-Wheeler used Laetrile as part of her protocol to heal from pancreatic cancer
Allan Taylor used apricot kernels as part of his healing plan for colon cancer
Find apricot kernels online
