British food safety watchdog warns against eating apricot kernels over cyanide risk

British food security watchdog issued an official warning on Thursday, urging people to avoid eating the nutritious apricot kernels as they contain high levels of the toxic chemical cyanide that could kill.

The Food Standard Agency, a food safety arm of the British government, sounded the alarm over fears of a growing health craze in which some retailers are selling large packets of ground apricot stones to cancer patients, claiming that they help to treat the disease.

According to the agency, apricot kernels contain high amounts of the naturally-occurring Vitamin B17, which contributes to the bitter taste, but it changes to cyanide after people eat the nuts.

Consumption of 10 to 15 stones at a time could lead to worrying side effects such as their fingers going numb, while a dose of 30 stones is enough to kill someone, it advised.

Cyanide is a deadly poisonous chemical that can cause nausea, fever, headaches, insomnia, nervousness, muscle pains and falling blood pressure. In extreme cases, it can be fatal.

The warning came after a European Food Safety Authority study was published over the risks to human health from apricot kernels. The European institute suggested that the safe amount for an adult and a toddler would be about half of a large and a small kernel respectively. Endi