Yes, cherry pits in smoothies are OK in small quantities. If you found a cherry seed in your cherry smoothie, don’t freak. Cherry pits contain toxins and can be toxic in large doses, but generally, in small doses, cherry pits in smoothies aren’t harmful to the human body. Some sources say that the pits can be used for natural treatment options, and some people say they get a splitting headache just by swallowing cherry pits.
But if you eat one and have difficulty breathing afterward, stop eating spit the pit out if it isn’t too late, and seek immediate medical attention!
If you swallow one, read below and listen to your body to decide whether you should consider it a poisoning. If you feel fine, we don’t recommend eating more, but we do recommend having a frozen banana, coconut milk, or some almond milk to wash away the bad flavor.
Are Cherry Pits in Smoothies OK?
Some people eat whole cherry pits for therapeutical purposes, especially as one of many natural treatment options for cancer. Popping the cherry pits in a cherry smoothie is one way to consume them.
One thing’s for sure, and it’s that the flavor doesn’t please the mouth. Cherry seed smoothie tastes bitter, just like a smoothie made with the seed from plums, peaches, or apricots. The cherry seeds taste bitter like bitter almonds and other fruit pits and other seeds like apple seeds, pits in apricots, peaches, and plums.
Can Cherry Pits in Smoothies Make You Sick?
If you consume a few cherry (prunus genus) pits in smoothies you probably won’t get ill, but too many cherry pits can be poisonous. Call emergency services such as 911 in the United States if you start to have difficulty breathing or have more serious symptoms like seizures if you’ve consumed lots of cherry pits.
Cherry pits contain cyanide and can cause cyanide poisoning, which can lead to short-term problems or longer-term problems like kidney failure, respiratory arrest, and acute toxicity, they can induce vomiting, lead to increased blood pressure, and eventually can cause death.
If a child accidentally swallows a cherry pit that’s an average cherry pit size, they may choke. If they eat too many cherry pits, they could be poisoned.
What Is Poisonous in a Cherry Pit?
Cherry pits are encased in hard kernels. Cherry pit kernels and the kernels of other stone fruits contain a chemical called amygdalin. Amygdalin is one of several cyanogenic acids, which is converted by our bodies into hydrogen cyanide if we eat the kernels.
Hydrogen cyanide in cherry pits acts as a poison to humans because it interrupts the transport of oxygen in our bodies, which then damages important organs like the heart, brain, and lungs.
You shouldn’t eat cherry pits because they’re poisonous. However, if you only eat a few, the amount of poison may not have noticeable effects.
Cyanide Toxicity: How Much Cyanide Is in Cherry Pits
Hydrogen cyanide can be poisonous (called cyanide toxicity) and possibly lethal in amounts of 0.1 grams per 150 pounds of body weight.
The enzymes that cherry pits contain turn into hydrogen cyanide when the enzymes touch the amygdalin that’s deep inside the pit. The enzymes and amygdalin might combine if you chew the seed.
How Many Cherry Seeds You Have to Eat to Get Sick
Cyanide toxicity in humans can happen when 0.2 to 1.6 milligrams of cyanide per pound of body weight are eaten. That’s like if a 150-pound or adult human ate 30 to 240 milligrams of cyanide. That sounds like a TON for a lethal dose, but these fruit seeds actually do contain a ton, too!
Red cherry pits have about 3.9 milligrams of amygdalin per fruit gram, the black cherry has around 2.7 milligrams per fruit gram, and Morello cherry pits have up to 65 milligrams per fruit gram.
Stone fruits like cherries can cause your body to produce an equivalent of about 0.01 to 1.1 milligrams of cyanide. Of course, this depends on how many cherry pits you consume. If you eat three or four Morello cherry pits or seven to nine red or black cherry pits, you could get cyanide poisoning.
FAQs About Cherry Pits in the Kitchen
Here are the answers to some common questions asked about the pit in cherries, and how to eat or not eat cherry pits and other fruit pits and fruit seeds.
Are Cherry Seeds Good for You?
Generally, cherry seeds aren’t good for you because they contain a chemical called amygdalin that acts as a poison by producing cyanogenic glycosides in the human body. Whole cherry pits can be used for therapeutic purposes under special medical care, but you would need to consult a medical professional before eating these intentionally.
Are Apple Seeds Better to Eat than Cherry seeds?
Apple seeds contain less poison than cherry seeds do. A cherry pit causes the production of more cyanogenic glycoside in the body than an apple seed does.
Is a Ninja Blender Good at Blending Cherry Pits?
Yes, a Ninja is good at blending cherry pits in smoothies. You might not even notice them.
If you are in the market for a really good smoothie blender, you may be interested in the blender Starbucks uses.
Sources
Here are some notable sources to learn more!
ThoughtCo posted public feedback on eating cherry pits. Have a look at these reactions and personal uses of cherry pits, and let us know: have you eaten the seeds before? Why? How did it leave your tummy feeling?
Healthline, on what you should know about cherry pit poison.
Whew! Poison.org reminds us that small ingestion of any fruit seeds or fruit pits contains insufficient poison to cause us much harm. Here’s their post, answering the question, are stone fruit seeds are poisonous?
If you’re down, here’s a sample cherry smoothie recipe to try. Let us know how your smoothie turns out, if you included the pit and if you swallowed the pit and felt just fine, and what blender you used!
Conclusion
Fresh cherries are my favorite summertime treat. And meal. But, cherry pits in larger doses can be lethal. Avoid eating several seeds at one time, call poison control or seek immediate medical attention if you don’t feel well after eating one or lots. Use them therapeutically only with professional medical guidance.
