August 2017
By A. Pawlowski
Some of your favorite summer fruits contain a surprisingly toxic secret deep inside.
A British man was recently treated for cyanide poisoning after eating cherries, or more specifically, cherry pits. While sampling the fruit, he cracked open three pits and ate the substance inside, the Independent reported.
It “tasted similar to an almond but with a cherry flavor to it — I didn't think nothing of it, just thought it was a seed, so I ate it and continued to eat more of it,” Matthew Crème told the BBC.
He began to feel ill a few minutes later and was rushed to the hospital, but has recovered.
Here’s what’s going on:
The pits and seeds of many fruits contain amygdalin — a plant compound that your body converts to cyanide after eating. Symptoms of cyanide exposure include dizziness, headache, nausea, a rapid heart rate and convulsions.
Amygdalin stays safely in the pit — unless you crack it open and eat the substance inside, like Crème did. The flesh of the fruit contains very little of the compound.
What to keep in mind:
Stay away from the contents of the pit and keep eating the fruit, said Isabel Maples, a registered dietitian nutritionist and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
"If you're worried about the danger of eating fruit because of cyanide, I would say not to be worried about that. There's more danger to more people in not eating enough fruit," Maples told TODAY.
"The vitamins, minerals, fiber and disease-fighting antioxidants would still be a lot better for us than worrying about the danger of the seeds."
