Marc Abrahams Cautions: Beware the Poppy Seed Bagel. (January 29, 2009)

The editor of Annals of Improbable Research and organiser of the Ig Nobel prize, Marc Abrahams* writes occasional pieces for The Guardian. Whether or not the work reported on by Mr Abrahams ought to have been considered for an Ig Nobel, well you be the judge.

He tells us: "Elizabeth J Narcessian and HoJung Yoon, both at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, published their finding in a 1997 study called False-Positive Urine Drug Screen: Beware the Poppy Seed Bagel. It concerned a patient whose urine mysteriously tested positive for morphine," and Mr Abrahams quotes from the paper:

The patient denied any use of illicit substances and denied obtaining medication from any other sources. Her pharmacy confirmed that I [Narcessian] was the only doctor prescribing Schedule II medications [illegal/classified drugs]. The patient was then questioned about her diet. She reported that her diet consisted predominantly of oatmeal cereal and bagels.

The patient was requested to not eat any poppy seed bagels or poppy seed-containing food for a period of two weeks. She was requested to come to my office on 22 April 1997 with a poppy seed bagel. A urine sample was obtained from the patient at 9am before her ingesting the bagel. The patient was then observed eating one half of a poppy seed bagel.

[The] results confirmed that ingestion of poppy seeds can result in a positive urine toxicology for morphine. The urines may remain positive from 24 to 48 hours after ingestion.

Mr Abrahams concludes: "Thus we know that the risk of public intoxication from bagel consumption, though rare, is real."

We might also suggest that athletes engaging in sporting events which require participants to submit urine samples for drug testing bear in mind Narcessian and Yoon's findings and forgo poppy seed laced foods for at least several days prior to being tested. Of course this may require total abstinence if the athlete is subjected to outside-event testing. 

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*It has been suggested that a possible reason for Mr Abrahams' outlook on life is that he has a degree in applied mathematics from Harvard College.