Monday, 13 June 2011

Fact of the Day (13/6/11)

Apple seeds do contain a small amount of cyanide, which is a lethal poison, but you are protected from the toxin by the hard seed coating. If you eat whole apple seeds, they pass through your digestive system relatively untouched. If you chew the seeds thoroughly, you will be exposed to the chemicals inside the seeds, but the dose of toxins in an apple is small enough that your body can easily detoxify it.

Apple seeds contain amygdalin, which decomposes into toxic benzaldehyde and prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide. However, humans are able to detoxify small amounts of these chemicals.    

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