I rely on Mythbusters for an awful lot of my real world wisdom. Anyone who talks to me knows how frequently I come out with little Mythbusters facts about this and that. Some of it painfully obvious (it's a bad idea to store a loaded gun in an oven), some of it really, really surprising (I won't be calling anyone a bull in a china shop ever again), some of it just plain cool (duct tape can pretty much fix anything, even light aircraft).
One mini-myth that I find particularly interesting is about poppy seed products and the claim that they can make you fail a drugs screen test. As one of my favourite cake recipes is a Citrus Poppy Seed cake, I was interested to find out for sure either way. I watched the full episode a couple of nights ago but here's a link to the Mythbusters website with a shortened video.
Mythbusters Mini-Myth: Poppy Seed Drugs Test Video
(Sorry about the adverts)
Result: CONFIRMED
Both Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman tested positive for drugs after eating poppy seed products and the tests kept coming back positive for many, many hours after consumption. Adam even tested positive after just 30 minutes of consuming a whole loaf of poppy seed cake!
As the doctor in the video said, poppy seeds do contain opium and they are used to make heroin, but the seeds contain such small quantities that you wouldn't expect there to be an effect. This makes me think again of young Dorothy Gale from the Wizard of Oz and the deadly poppy field that sent her and her friends into a sudden and deep state of sleep. L. Frank Baum clearly knew what he was talking about when he wrote that particular episode of his story.
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| Judy Garland in Warner Bro's The Wizard if Oz |
So, another lesson learned from Mythbusters. Definitely something to bear in mind if you're ever going for a job interview that requires a drug test!
If that hasn't put you off, I'm sure I'll be posting a few poppy seed recipes in the future, but right now, housework calls..... joy.
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