Apricots fight cancer, hearth problems. irreversible macular degeneration and night blindness.
Note: No two apricots are the same and no two people are the same, so this page is only about most people and most apricots.
The apricot is a member of the rose family, along with peaches, plums, cherries, and almonds. The word apricot comes from the Latin praecocia meaning "precocious" or "early ripening." Alexander the Great is said to have brought apricots from their native home in China to Greece in the fourth century B.C. The Arabs carried apricots to the Mediterranean, and the apricot became a main crop in Italy for centuries. Franciscan friars brought the apricot to America in the late 1800s, where they thrived.
Apricots are high in vitamin A, even more so when dried. A serving of three apricots provides 45 percent of the recommended daily allowance. They are also high in vitamin C and potassium. If you’re allergic or sensitive to sulfites, remember to look on the label of the package to see if the apricots were treated with sulfur dioxide for color preservation. Look in health-food stores for unsulphured organic apricots. They’ll be brown, not orange.
Remember, with dried apricots you are not paying for the water. So you can divide the price by about three to get a rough estimate of the price per pound with water in it.
Eye Health
Eat a healthy diet of dark colored (green-leafy, orange and yellow) vegetables and fruits rich in vitamin C and A (the carotenoids).
You should eat some coconut oil or other fat with your fruit to help you to get the best nutrition out of your vitamin A precursors (carotenoids). Carrots, apricots, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, collard greens, spinach and romaine lettuce are excellent vitamin A sources. Carotenoids have lutein and zeaxanthin which are pigments found in the retina to help protect eyes from harmful UV light and act as antioxidants. Apricots have more carotenoids than 2 mg/ 100 g
Cancer - Apricot Kernels, seeds, or pits
Here is the official view. "Laetrile" is used interchangeably with "amygdalin" to designate natural substances, derived primarily from apricots and almonds, that can release cyanide, which is lethal to living organisms. In the 1920s, Dr. Ernst T. Krebs, Sr., formulated a theory that amygdalin could kill cancer cells. His theory was inconsistent with biochemical facts and has since been modified at least twice by his son, Ernst T. Krebs, Jr. Extensive work has been done by cancer scientists to test the claim that Laetrile fights cancer. Many animal experiments in the 1970s showed a complete lack of tumor killing by Laetrile.
Whatever the official point of view may be, the people in Africa who eat a porridge rich in laetrile don't get cancer. Now it could be because they don't eat fast foods either, but I've been munching on a tablespoon of apricot kernels per day for about ten years now just in case it does prevent cancer. Even if it doesn't, I like the nutty taste of these apricot pits. I hate bitter-apricot kernels, so look for the blanched non-bitter seeds.
Considerable laboratory evidence from chemical, cell culture, and animal studies indicates that antioxidants such as those found in apricots may slow or possibly prevent the development of cancer. However the drug companies don't want anything to cut down the rate of cancer so they conduct tests intended to show that carotenoids don't work.
What's The Common Factor
A 1994 cancer prevention study entitled the Alpha-Tocopherol (vitmain E)/Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study (ATBC) demonstrated that lung cancer rates of Finnish male smokers increased significantly with beta-carotene and were not affected by vitamin E. (2)
Another 1994 study, the Beta-Carotene and Retinol (vitamin A) Efficacy Trial (CARET), also demonstrated a possible increase in lung cancer associated with antioxidants. (3)
The 1996 Physicians' Health Study I (PHS) found no change in cancer rates associated with beta-carotene and aspirin taken by U.S. male physicians. (4)
The 1999 Women's Health Study (WHS) tested effects of vitamin E and beta-carotene in the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease among women age 45 years or older. Among apparently healthy women, there was no benefit or harm from beta-carotene supplementation. Investigation of the effect of vitamin E is ongoing. (5)
Did you spot the common factor? Yes, that's right, all the tests are for refined extracts of beta carotene. This is a favourite drug-company trick. They decide that carrots are healthy because of the beta carotene. They then prove that beta carotene doesn't work and publicize the results to the world. All they have really proved is that they are wrong about beta carotene being the part of carrots that does the job. Similarly apricots have hundreds of phytonutrients. It doesn't really matter which combination fights cancer, as long as apricots do fight cancer. Don't condemn apricots because one nutrient doesn't work.
It could even be the carotenes that are doing all the good work, and only the artificial beta carotene kills people. Who knows? One thing is certain, if eating carrots makes you more healthy than beta carotene, the drug companies will be the last ones to mention it.
If you don't follow this logic here is another illustration. If someone wanted to sell concrete buildings they could say that brick houses are made of bricks. They would then build houses with bricks and no mortar or wood or aluminium framework. They would then point out that the only viable form of brick house was a dome shape and that the doors kept collapsing on people and killing them. So they would advise you to stick to concrete buildings.
Guaranteed Beauty Recipe
I guarantee that if you try this recipe and it doesn't work for you, you will have wasted a lot less money than you would on botox. And it does work for some people to remove their wrinkles. I don't care about my wrinkles so I prefer to pig out on raw apricot fruit instead of wearing them.
Blend fresh apricot fruit (without the stones) and just enough water to blend well and make a cupful of pulp, then blend in half an avocado. Blend in three tablespoons (50ml) of coconut oil. Apply this beauty mask in a thin layer all over your face and neck while you are watching TV. Rinse off before going to bed. How do I know that it is the apricot fruit doing the job and not the avocado? Who cares, as long as it works!
Analysis
100 gms raw apricots contain
- 86% water
- 11% carbohydrate
- 10 mg vitamin C
- 9 micrograms folate
- 1926 IU vitamin A (this is remarkably high)
- 3.3 micrograms vitamin K
- 1094 micrograms beta carotene (probably most of the vitamin A)
- 19 micrograms alpha carotene
- 104 micrograms beta cryptoxanthin
- 89 micrograms lutein zeaxanthin
