In a shocking incident, tested positive for opiates because she ate poppy seeds bagel in breakfast. The woman, Eden was preparing to give birth and was having contractions when the doctor at St Joseph Medical Center informed her that she was tested positive for opiates. According to media reports by Daily Mail, the woman was reported to the state as soon as she was found positive for opiates. the media report also says that St Joseph Medical Center tests anyone with 300 nanograms of opiates per millimetre of blood will positive for the drugs.

How Poppy Seeds Show Opioids?

According to a study, 'Seeds of the opium poppy plant are legally sold and widely consumed as food. Due to contamination during harvesting, the seeds can contain morphine and other opiate alkaloids.' and it further says that 'Normal poppy seed consumption is generally regarded as safe. During food processing, the morphine content is considerably reduced (up to 90 percent). The possibility of false-positive opiate drug tests after poppy food ingestion exists. There are no unambiguous markers available to differentiate poppy food ingestion from heroin or pharmaceutical morphine use.'

Therefore, while the poppy plant is commercially grown and is consumed widely, there could be a chance of you being tested positive for opiates after consuming poppy seeds.

In a 1989 sitcom Seinfeld,  one of the main characters Elaine was also tested positive for opium after she eats a poppy-seed bagel in the show. Take a look:

FYI, opiates, as described by a study, has also been used in the medical fields to relieve pain in specific portions. The study says, 'A group of painkiller drugs are opiates, which comes from the poppy plant. Opiates derived from opium are used as anodyne and hypnagogic. The natural opiates include opium, morphine, and codeine. There are also some man-made substances called opioids. Although the most commonly used term is opiate, however, the term “opiate” is sometimes used for close relatives of opium such as codeine, morphine and heroin, while the term “opioid’ is used for the entire class of drugs including synthetic opiates such as oxycontin.' However, you must know that poppy seeds per se isn't toxic and are considered safe to be consumed by people according to FDA.

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 09, 2018 12:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).