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Comment by crazygringo | Hacker News Reader

Because they're not roasted and seasoned?

Are you saying you just swallow the black seeds raw when you eat fresh watermelon? And if so do you do the same with all seeds like with apples, grapes, etc?

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I do eat grape seeds. Apples, the core is too tough. With watermelon, I greatly prefer seedless. Like it’s not even close in terms of taste or texture. I probably eat about 2 whole watermelon a week in the summer time. It’s always a sad day if I accidentally buy a melon with seeds.

Yes absolutely! I just swallow watermelon seeds. In a slice of seeded watermelon they're not bothersome texture wise (to me), have a mild flavor, and contain good protein. It doesn't feel worth the effort to separate them in my mouth and spit them out.

I haven't encountered a grape with seeds in years, and I don't eat apple seeds because they are slightly bitter and contain amygdalin.

I'm not the person you asked, but yes, I do eat all those seeds raw with the fruit, usually. I won't eat something big like an apricot pit though. Cherry pits, sometimes. They're right on the size border of what I would swallow.

Large stone fruit pits (virtually all of them, but especially apricots) contain amygdalin, a substance that your body converts to (poisonous) cyanide as you digest it. Depending on the quantity you ingest, this can be lethal.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20196932/

Some hippies I know were powdering the apricot kernels (aka pits) and feeding them to themselves and their family “for organic health reasons” and almost killed their little boy accidentally as a result. They warned me so that I never did the same.

Apricot seeds are such a common snack around here that I feel there's something missing in your first paragraph. Maybe a qualifier or a special situation where they become dangerous.(Few others taste as good. Peaches don't for example)

It really depends on how many you ingest, and it’s generally only fatal for children. If I remember correctly something like 50-60 would kill an adult, but you’ll get quite sick long before that.

If you’re eating them as a snack, you should consider stopping as there’s no amount of cyanide that is healthy for humans. If it doesn’t make you noticeably sick, it’s still causing strain on your kidneys and liver to flush it out.

Google “apricot cyanide”, but here is a good overview: https://www.webmd.com/cancer/amygdalin-cancer-treatment

The pits of all stone fruits contain this chemical

Where do you live that people eat them? I thought it was common knowledge that they will kill you.

Allow me to quote from Wikipedia [1] where almost the entire article is about how they're harmful:

> The kernel contains amygdalin, a poisonous compound, in concentrations that vary between cultivars... they are toxic and potentially lethal when taken by mouth due to cyanide poisoning.

> In 2016, the European Food Safety Authority reported that eating three small bitter apricot kernels or half of a large bitter kernel would exceed safe consumption levels of amygdalin and potentially cause cyanide poisoning. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland advises against eating either bitter or sweet varieties of apricot kernel due to the risk of cyanide poisoning and advises consumption be limited to one to two kernels a day for an adult.

> In 1993, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets tested the cyanide content of two 220 gram (8 oz) packages of bitter apricot kernels imported from Pakistan that were being sold in health-food stores as a snack. The results showed that each package, if consumed entirely, contained at least double the minimum lethal dosage of cyanide for an adult human; the product was removed from stores.

Please stop eating them and tell the people around you to stop as well.

This isn't about crazy overconsumption killing you, this is about even a normal portion harming your health. Nobody should be eating these.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apricot_kernel

I was going to say the parent poster was probably eating sweet, not bitter, apricot seeds; most of what you quoted is about bitter apricot seeds.

Looks like you can actually buy bitter apricot seeds on Amazon.com though; and the reviews are full of people hoping it will cure their cancer. Sad.

I'd be careful with cherry pits.

Yea I just swallow them. They are softer the the ones from grapes and don't have bothering taste. It also seems like awful amount of work to remove them.

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