Beware the Wellness Trends that Lean Extreme
Is steeping poppy seeds really a good idea?
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Some wellness websites are now touting the health benefits of steeping poppy seeds into a strong brew to help with everything from anxiety and insomnia to workout recovery. Appealing to the “more is better” fallacy to drive sales, some poppy seed sellers are promoting their products as raw, unwashed, or unprocessed in promise of higher concentrations of opiates. And it’s true; raw and unwashed does, indeed, result in products with higher concentrations of morphine and codeine, both of which are derived from poppy seed.
It seems obvious but the problem, of course, is the stronger the brew, the more dangerous the tea. Despite being pedaled as a holistic wellness remedy, there is risk for addiction, overdose, and death, particularly if the person drinking the concentrated tea is already using other products derived from poppy seeds like prescription pain relievers. In fact, there is the risk that even eating baked goods and other products containing
unwashed poppy seeds could impact drug test results. This is not just urban myth and a funny bit on “Seinfeld.” Athletes have been disqualified from competing for ingesting a product with poppy seeds. Most horrifying, in one terrible situation a mother was even disallowed from leaving the hospital with her newborn after testing positive for opiates after eating a lemon poppy seed muffin soon before giving birth. She was then subjected to supervised urine tests throughout her maternity leave.
While legislation has been introduced to control poppy seed contamination, the bill has not gained much traction. In reality, there are not huge numbers of people who have suffered the more serious consequences of poppy seed misuse, but it doesn’t change the fact that there is still a real risk and let’s face it; some of us are just vulnerable to the pull of the wellness promise. We can do some dumb things in the pursuit of health, so desperately do we want to be well -- especially if we don’t have to work too hard for it because wouldn’t that be perfect. However, on the other end of the effort spectrum, it’s also pretty easy to go bananas and wind up in the grip of a quest for wellbeing perfection with our people around us watching as our new practices and lifestyle consume more and more of our time, money and energy, quite possibly at the expense of our health. (Check. Been there; done that.) This is all to say, beware the wellness trends that lean to the extreme (would you normally brew a stiff tea out of poppy seeds?) and keep an eye on yourself for behaviors that begin drifting into the zone of obsession. I'm now ready to concede the Buddha was onto something with The Middle Way.
To modest moderation – just don’t overdo it!
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Source:
KFF Health News