Cancer Alternative Treatments: Documentary Analysis Essay

The year 2008 was one of the most difficult one of my life emotionally. On March 4th 2008 my Grandpa died of pneumonia. This is the first time in my life that someone close to me had died. I was in 7th grade at the time. I remember how everyone in my family was saddened and in a sense shattered by this event. At first I was in complete shock for the longest time and in disbelief that he passed. We were supposed to celebrate his birthday four days later on March 8th. My Tia Meli had cancer during this time and she was not told right away that her father had passed away. She did go to the funeral once she was told.

My Tia passed away April 14th 2008, seven days after her birthday and a month after my Grandpa. I remember when we first got the call of her passing. I remember going in a corner crouching and crying because I was sad and angry. I just lost my Grandpa and now my Tia. At that moment I wanted to find a way to treat cancer. I wanted to see if I could find an answer. Apricot Seeds/ Vitamin B17/ Laetrile The summer of 2009 my oldest brother Franky introduced me to a documentary which I believe gave us an answer. The name of the documentary is “A World Without Cancer” by Edward Griffin. I encourage you to look it up on You Tube.

This documentary focuses on the idea that all cancers or cancers in general are a chronic metabolic disease. Edward Griffin theorizes that cancer is a result of a lack or deficiency of a specific nutrient or vitamin. This nutrient or vitamin he says people with cancer lack, is “vitamin B17. ” It also goes by the name of amygdalin, nitriloside, and Laetrile. Vitamin B17 is found in various grasses in nature and Griffin explains that there has never been an animal found in nature with cancer. He says it’s only when animals are taken from the wild and put in man-made exhibits such as zoos’ that they then develop cancer.

He gives very specific examples of what happened to bears in a zoo. Over a six year period five bears died from cancer. In captivity animals are not freely allowed to eat the foods they would forage for in their natural habitats. Bears in the wild consume berries that contain vitamin B17. When a bear kills a deer, by instinct they eat the rumen or stomach which contains nitrilosides (vitamin B17) from the various types of grasses the deer consumed. It is when they are captive and are not being fed foods that are rich in nitrilosides (vitamin B17) that they develop and are often killed by cancer.

When gorillas in captivity are given a fruit they often tear off the flesh and eat the seed within first. It is their natural instinct to do so. Dogs too instinctively eat certain types of grasses when ill or not feeling well. Seeds from fruits, such as Apricots and Apples are some of the richest sources of vitamin B17 known in nature. This documentary characterizes cancer as a chronic metabolic disease, which means a disease that in most cases doesn’t go away on its own, occurs within the body and is not transmittable or contagious.

The documentary mentions that there has never been a chronic metabolic disease that has been prevented or treated by man-made chemical medicine or surgery. Only nutrition has had a really great impact on chronic metabolic diseases. A great example of a chronic metabolic disease prevented or treated with nutrition is scurvy. Centuries ago when millions of people died of scurvy doctors were confused to what was causing the disease and deaths of so many. They originally thought or theorized scurvy was caused by some sort of virus or bacteria that lived and thrived on sea ships.

For over 200 years or so, the treatment of scurvy wasn’t known and many died. It wasn’t until 1747 John Lynn, a surgeon in the Navy discovered that citrus fruits such as lemons and oranges were able to eliminate scurvy because of their high levels of ascorbic acid what is also known as vitamin C. Many others in medicine did not believe his statements to be true. His recommendation for Navy ships to carry citrus happened 48 years after his initial discovery. The documentary continues with an example of another chronic metabolic disease known as pellagra.

This disease was also originally thought to be contagious and caused by a mysterious unknown virus. Joseon Goldberger found out the disease was related to diet. It could be treated by eating foods such as yeast or liver. It was in 1941when the medical establishment recognized pellagra as the result of a vitamin B deficiency. There are over a thousand edible plants that contain vitamin B17, for example sorghum cane and millet grain. They were once main staples in the American diet. Sorghum cane was replaced with sugar cane and millet grain was replaced with wheat grain. Even the diet of livestock such as cows was changed.

They were and in majority of cases still (besides organic) are not allowed to eat grass and are forced to eat corn which they are not designed to digest. This means that the meat we eat is devoid of any vitamin B17 that the cow would normally get from consuming what they were designed to eat, grass. The documentary uses the Hunzas, a small community of people who live in the Karakorum Mountains, as proof that a diet rich in nitrilosides or vitamin B17 is the key nutrient people with cancer are lacking. The documentary explains that the people of Hunza have extremely long lifespans and live to the average age of 100 years old.

In some cases they can live to be 120 years old. The documentary also points out that there has never been a case of cancer in Hunza ever. It then goes into explaining that the typical diet of the Hunzas has 200 times more nitrilosides or vitamin B17 than the typical diet of the average American. The Hunzas don’t use money or a monetary system but measure their wealth in the amount of Apricot trees one has. The Hunzas consider the apricot seed or more specifically the kernel (which is inside the hard outer shell) as their most important food they eat. This is the reason why they have such hig levels of nitrilosides, vitamin B17.

Apricot seeds are the highest source of vitamin B17 out of anything in nature. The documentary then goes into more scientific detail on why and how vitamin B17 works. The film is somewhat old so some of the terms used might be a little dated. It does make a lot of sense if you watch it because the diagrams given are very helpful in understanding the science behind it. I will try to simplify it but I highly recommend watching the documentary on YouTube because I believe the presentation of the information is executed with great detail without being overly complicated.

Okay, so vitamin B17 or the vitamin B17 molecule is made up of two sugar componds, one compound of cyanide and one compound of benzaldehyde. In this form the benzaldehyde and cyanide are locked in by two sugar compounds. If they weren’t locked in this form they would be very dangerous because cyanide and benzaldehyde are poisonous on their own and together even more so. The only way the two compounds can be released is by a unique enzyme that can be thought of as the “unlocking enzyme. ” The unlocking enzyme is not found anywhere in the body. The cancer cells are the only cells that have the unlocking enzyme.

So what happens when vitamin B17 comes in contact with cancer cells that have the unlocking enzyme is the cyanide and benzaldehyde detach from the two sugar compounds which nourish normal healthy cells around while the cyanide and benzaldehyde go to the cancer cells and only the cancer cells and kill them by poisoning only the cancer cells. So that’s how vitamin B17 works on a very basic level. To get into it in more detail watch the documentary. To finish up this section of this chapter I want to talk about Laetrile. Laetrile is the medical liquid injectable form of vitamin B-17 discovered in 1952.

The last part of “A World without Cancer” documentary is about documented cases of people with various cancers at various stages using Laetrile and successfully alternatively treating their cancer. Also it mentions many doctors who have used Laetrile and have backed it with their own papers. So that’s about it for vitamin B17. Please don’t only accept this just because you read this book. Look into it more. I just wanted to present the information. I am not a medical doctor. Make your own conclusions of the information. I am not here to guarantee anything; I’m just here to make people aware of what the possibilities might be.