For an average adult weighing 70 kg (154 lbs), you’d need around 70 mg of pure cyanide. That’s a lot of seeds.
One chewed cherry seed releases about 0.01 to 0.02 mg of cyanide. Do the division, and you’re looking at thousands of seeds.
Specifically? For a fatal dose, you’d have to chew and swallow around 200 to 400 cherry seeds. That’s like eating 100 to 200 cherries whole—pit and all.
But here’s the twist. You won’t do that. Nobody eats cherries like a deranged bird. The taste would stop you first.
The Flavor Defense
Crushed cherry seeds taste bitter and nasty. It’s your body’s built-in poison alarm. You’ll spit it out before you swallow more than one.
Think of it like this: your tongue is a superhero. That bitterness is a warning signal: “Abort! Poison ahead!”
Even if you tried to force it, you’d likely vomit from the taste long before reaching dangerous levels. Your body wants to live.
So, the classic question—“How many cherry seeds can kill you?”—has a hilarious answer: more than you could possibly eat.
How to grow a cherry tree from seed: expert tips | Homes and Gardens
Unless you’re a competitive eater with a death wish. And even then, the seeds would win by grossness.
