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Pregnant Mum Who 'Ate Poppy Seed Bagel For Breakfast Tested Positive For Drugs'

Pregnant Mum Who 'Ate Poppy Seed Bagel For Breakfast Tested Positive For Drugs'

Elizabeth Eden tested positive for opiates, meaning that her newborn baby was taken away for five days - she blames a poppy seed bagel

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

Sometimes, the news hits you with info so bizarre that all you can do it laugh in bemusement. For instance, take this mum in Maryland who went into labour after eating a poppy seed bagel for her breakfast and went on to test positive for opiates.

Elizabeth Eden told WBAL-TV in Baltimore that a doctor told her the news following a blood test, while she was in labour back in April, and to make matters a hell of a lot worse, she had been reported to the state.

The test result meant that Elizabeth's daughter, Beatrice, had to stay in the hospital for five days while her mother was assigned a case worker.

Elizabeth explained that she had learned in a school health class that eating poppy seeds could cause a false positive, and luckily her bagel defence resulted in her case being closed.

ABC13

Elizabeth told WBALTV11: "I was in labour. I was sitting in the bed. I was having contractions. I was on a Pitocin drip, and the doctor came in and said, 'You've tested positive for opiates.'

"I said, 'Well, can you test me again? And I ate a poppy seed bagel this morning for breakfast,' and [the nurse] said, 'No, you've been reported to the state.'"'

She added: "It was traumatising."

ABC13

Accordint to the Sun, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment says that until food manufacturers reduce morphine levels in poppy seeds, it advises against excessive consumption, particularly during pregnancy.

The presence of opiates in poppy seeds is a subject that's been explored for quite some time.

Poppy seeds come from the opium poppy plant - the same one that forms the basis of opioid drugs, including morphine, codeine, Oxycontin and heroin.

ABC13

According to the Independent, a professor of clinical pharmacology at Queen Mary University explained that while consuming poppy seeds may increase one's chances of being tested positive for opiates, it's unlikely to have an intoxicating impact.

Prof Atholl Johnston told the BBC: "If you eat a poppy seed roll, it could give rise to a positive result on a urine drug test for morphine.

"It is unlikely that a single poppy seed roll, or even a dozen rolls, would result in an individual ingesting enough morphine to have a pharmacological effect."

So there's a lesson for us all - if you really want to dine on poppy seed products, probably best to do your scoffing after, rather than before a drug test.

Featured Image Credit: ABC13

Topics: Pregnancy, Food, Interesting, US News, Drugs, Community, Weird