Vitamin B-17 is also known as amygdalin, nitriloside, or sarcarcinase and is available under the brand names of Laetrile and Amigdalina. Vitamin B-17 is not actually a vitamin. Vitamins are organic compounds used by your body, along with enzymes, for metabolic processes and cellular repair. Vitamin B-17 is considered by the medical community to be a dangerous drug because when amygdalin is metabolized it produces a toxic hydrogen cyanide.
Amygdalin
Vitamin B-17 is best known by its chemical name amygdalin. It was discovered by French chemists in 1830 and by the late 1800s was being used as a potential cancer treatment by German doctors. A naturally occurring substance, amygdalin is found in some nuts and in the pits of fruits such as apricots. Technically, amygdalin is a cyanogenic glycoside. In your body, the enzyme betaglucosidase metabolizes the amygdalin and breaks it down into three other chemicals: benzaldehyde, glucose and cyanide.
Cancer Treatment
Amygdalin was first used in Russia in 1845 as a possible cancer treatment, but it was considered to be too toxic. It enjoyed popularity for a few years, and then in the 1950s a semi-synthetic form of the drug was developed and named laetrile. The mechanism of how laetrile worked against cancer was unknown, but one theory was that cancer cells contained an enzyme that healthy cells did not. This enzyme allowed a cancer cell to break down the laetrile to its component chemicals, one of which is cyanide. The cyanide then supposedly would kill the cancerous cell by starving it of oxygen. Another theory suggests that cancer is actually caused by a vitamin B-17 deficiency, so administering laetrile will eliminate the deficiency -- and the cancer.
Controversy
Laetrile is a nonconventional cancer treatment. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved it for use in the United States, but laetrile treatment is available in Mexico, where patients receive an initial intravenous dose followed by oral treatment. Early laboratory studies indicated that amygdalin might have some anticancer properties, so in 1982 the National Cancer Institute conducted clinical trials. The drug did not prove effective against cancer, and even worse, it produced symptoms of cyanide toxicity in some of the patients. Some proponents of the drug maintain that there is a conspiracy to keep laetrile off the market, but it can be bought in Mexico or through the Internet. Sloan-Kettering recommends not using laetrile or amygdalin, especially since samples of the drug have found to be contaminated or were not accurately labeled.
Cyanide Poisoning
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cyanide is a deadly poison and may be found in both gaseous and crystalline forms. Cyanide can be found in some foods as part of other natural substances. While breathing cyanide gas is most harmful, ingesting it is also toxic. Cyanide poisons your body by preventing your cells from using oxygen so that they die. Your brain and heart are most susceptible to cyanide poisoning. The CDC cautions that within minutes of ingesting even a small amount of cyanide, you may experience rapid breathing and heart rate, dizziness, headache, weakness and nausea. Larger doses can induce convulsions and loss of consciousness, and eventually, respiratory failure and death.
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