Food Myths: Are Apple Cores Poisonous?

[Narrator] Apple cores are poisonous.

True or false?

Cut into an apple and you'll find

some hard, dark seeds in the core,

and those seeds contain a chemical called amygdalin.

When it gets down into your digestive system

amygdalin can release cyanide,

which is definitely poisonous,

but normally when people eat apple cores,

they just swallow the seeds whole.

The shells on those seeds are hard,

so your body can't break them down

unless your teeth or your kitchen tools

do it first.

In order to actually digest the amygdalin

in those seeds,

you'd have to blend a bunch of apples,

seeds and all, into one very big smoothie.

I mean, a really big smoothie.

You'd have to cram about 18 apples,

that's nearly 150 apple seeds,

into that blender,

just to put a potentially lethal amount

of cyanide in your body.

So feel free to eat all the apple cores you want.

This food myth is false.

But maybe just spit out those seeds,

you know, just in case.