3 ms·

Neither a drug or supplement. B17 is a made up vitamin name.

• spacehome 10y ago
  They're all made up.
  • khedoros 10y ago
    All words are made up. "Vitamin" is generally accepted to mean "an organic compound that an organism requires in small amounts, and which it can't replicate itself". The accepted mapping of vitamin names to actual chemical substances changes over time, and sometimes substances are removed from the accepted list of vitamins. Researchers will choose a name. As more evidence is gathered supporting that substance as an essential nutrient, it becomes a more widely-accepted name. Amygdalin was apparently investigated as Vitamin B17. Insufficient evidence was found for it as a "vitamin". Its most obvious effect is that it's metabolized into cyanide. It's not widely accepted as a vitamin (by nutrition researchers), but it's still marketed as one because it's easier to sell as a food than if it were marketed as a poison. Who coins a word, why they coined it, who rejects that definition, and why they reject it are important points.
    • spacehome 10y ago
      Yea, you're right.