Does eating 2 cherries really kill you ?

Cherries

There has always been a myth around that eating 2 cherries consecutively will lead to your demise. I've always wondered whether or not that is true, and my thought process and research led me to find an answer that I will be sharing with you today.

It isn't actually the cherry that kills you but the cyanide contained within the cherry pits. When the cherry pits are crushed a chemical called amygdalin is given out which lets out the cyanide.

It has been proven that the cherry pits indeed to contain cyanide- about 0.005mg of cyanide. The cyanide is contained within a cellular structure called amygdalin, and the amygdalin has to react with enzymes to release the cyanide.

The lethal dose of cyanide for a human is 1.5g per 1kg of body weight.

Sooo you'd need about 400 cherries for about 1.5g of cyanide, and considering the above statement- a person weighing 60kg(130lbs) would have to eat about 22500 cherry pits.

Yeah eating twenty two thousand cherries isn't really possible.

I hate when I don't know the answer to obscure, daily myths, so if you are like me- I hope this post has helped you gain some semblance of peace!

  • This post is mainly to kinda fix the rumour going around, but
    Do not eat cherry seeds either way, certain varieties are very harmful.