Are Pear Seeds Poisonous?
Pear seeds can be poisonous. This is because these seeds contain amygdalin which is a naturally occurring toxin. Consuming this toxin through pear seeds can lead to stomach ache as it reacts with the stomach enzymes. It can be fatal too in some cases, especially for children.
Eating too many pear seeds may cause serious health problems, like skin cancer, liver damage, heart disease, or even death. You are extremely unlikely to be able to consume enough pear seeds to poison yourself, so if you do swallow one every now and then, rest easy. You would have to chew through them carefully and consume around 200 apple seeds to get a dose of cyanide that is really dangerous. Compared to apples, pears seeds have only a tiny bit of cyanide, again, it certainly would not kill you unless you were eating ridiculous amounts all at once.
By the way, if you’re interested in How To Preserve Figs, check out my article on that.
Apples and pear seeds contain amygdalin, a substance that releases the toxic cyanide into your digestive tract. Apple seeds (and those from related plants, like pears and cherries) contain amygdalin, a cyanogenic glycoside composed of cyanide and sugar. Apples contain in their seeds a compound called amygdalin, which is a molecule made up of cyanide and sugar. A plant compound called amygdalin exists in relatively high amounts in the seeds of fruits of Rosaceae families, including apples, almonds, apricots, peaches, and cherries.
The seeds (also known as stones, pits, or kernels) of stone fruits such as apricots, cherries, plums, and peaches actually contain a compound called amygdalin, which breaks down to hydrogen cyanide upon ingestion. Apple and pear seeds, as well as the internal stoney pits (kernels) of apricots and peaches, contain a naturally occurring substance called amygdalin, which is a cyanogenic glycoside. Pear seeds, the pit, core, and the kernel of its stalk all contain cyanide, a compound that is toxic to dogs. The safest way to introduce pears to a dogs diet is by taking out the Pear seeds.
To learn about How To Preserve Garlic, check out my article where I cover everything you need to know.
If allowed to pluck the entire Pear from the tree, dogs can also consume parts of it that are unhealthy for them, such as the core and seeds. If it takes you an extended amount of effort before the fruit is separated from the stalk, those pears are unsafe for eating. Not all parts of the fruit are safe; you need to be careful about removing seeds and the core, because these can be poisonous. Even if the risk is not high enough that enough seeds will cause problems, it is wise to make sure that you remove the seeds and core before giving pears to a dog, just to be on the safe side.
| Side effects | Shelf life |
| Abdominal pain | At room temperature 7-10 days |
| Chronic Diarrhoea | In refrigerator 3-5 days |
| Excessive gas | In freezer 10-12 months |
It is wise to avoid seeds when you can, by not giving pear cores, apple cores, or other cores that contain seeds. A lot of seeds have to be eaten (cleaned, not ingested) in order to cause any health problems. You must remember to remove the seeds from any fruit you feed to your pets. When you are feeding pear first to a puppy, you should only be giving them small amounts, a half-inch square, cubes, with the seeds removed.
If your pup is healthy, without known health problems, feeding him a little bit of the flesh or peel from the pear is okay. Of course, you do not want any potentially toxic substances around to give your dog(s) a chance at eating, but chances are that you also love your pear trees.
Pear seeds only have a tiny amount of potential poison, so it would take a large number of seeds, as well as chewing on them, for the dogs to get affected by the cyanide poisoning of the fruits seeds. As tempting as it might be to throw the remaining cores from the pears out to the dogs, avoid offering any part of the pear to the dogs which contains seeds because the seeds are not only toxic in large quantities, they can cause chokes. Most people avoid the seeds in apples, but an individual might accidentally eat one or several of them and not bother spitting it out.
Because the apple seeds are crushed in processing, they can produce cyanide, which remains in Apple juices and shakes. Researchers advise against eating the apple seeds, and to remove them before you juice your apples, due to their high levels of amygdalin. Other scientists have confirmed that amygdalin in the seeds of apples may be high, and eating seeds may be cause for concern.
Apple seeds have approximately 3 milligrams of amygdalin per gram of the seed (one seed is approximately 0.7 grams). If you ingest apples and pear seeds whole, the tough outer layers are too hard for digestive enzymes to pass through, but if you chew them, amygdalin is released into your system, producing a small amount of cyanide. When you swallow, or even chew, some Apple seeds, a small amount of hydrogen cyanide can be produced, but the amount and concentration is so minute your body simply excretes it in digesting it.
Assuming that you are really good at grinding peach seeds (ouch) or really enjoy chewing apple seeds, the cyanide that will be produced in your intestines if you consume a pile of them is very different from the cyanide produced in the lab. In this blog post, I will be explaining you how to extract the compound called amygdalin from pear seeds, then check for toxicity.
Remember to thoroughly wash your pear before giving it to your pup; while pear fruits have rich nutrients on their skin, their surfaces can also harbor chemical residues. You do not need to bother to remove the skin before feeding it to your pooch: Let them enjoy the skin as well as the many health benefits. The skin of pear fruits is not just great for you to eat – it is great for dogs, as well, as there are lots of nutrients and vitamins.
As long as your pooch seems to be digesting the little pear chunk fine and liking it, you may want to continue giving the pups more of this tasty fruit. Cherries Both wild and domesticated cherries (Prunus spp) have seeds that contain the chemical cyanide, according to the Michigan State University Extension. Peaches Peach (Prucus persica) seeds also contain amygdalin and cyanogenic glycosides, warns the Consumer Education Extension Service at North Carolina State University.
What fruit seed is poisonous to humans?
Stone fruits including apricots, cherries, plums, and peaches have seeds that are also referred to as stones, pits, or kernels. These seeds do contain a substance called amygdalin, which, when consumed, decomposes into hydrogen cyanide. Additionally, hydrogen cyanide is unquestionably poisonous.
What fruit skin is poisonous?
Mangoes. Mangoes’ skin, bark, and leaves contain urushiol, the poison ivy toxin, just like raw cashews do. A significant reaction with swelling, redness and even breathing difficulties might result from biting into a mango if you have a poison ivy allergy, especially if that allergy is bad.
What happens if you eat the core of a pear?
Amygdalin, a chemical found in apple and pear seeds, causes the cyanide toxin to be released into the gastrointestinal tract. The seeds’ tough outer coating prevents digestive enzymes from penetrating them if you swallow them whole. Still, if you chew them, amygdalin is released into the bloodstream, causing trace levels of cyanide.