Poppy seeds are widely cultivated around the world and used as a popular ingredient in cooking, especially in baked goods, and potato, noodle and vegetable dishes. These tiny seeds pack more nutritional value than their size might indicate. Even in small amounts, they're a good source of protein, dietary fiber and minerals.
Definition
Poppy seeds come from the poppy flower. The seeds can be slate-blue or off-white, but both varieties are similar in flavor. In cooking, they can be toasted and used whole or mashed into a paste and used as a filling. While morphine is naturally found in the seed pods of some poppies, according to the theepicenter.com, the "Western plants yield little opium and the latex that provides the drug is absent by the time the flower ripens."
Considerations
Calculating the nutrition you gain from eating one apple is easier than figuring out the amount of poppy seeds you've consumed when they're only one ingredient in a dish. For example, a recipe for poppy seed muffins calls for 1 1/2 tbsp of poppy seeds into a batter that yields 12 muffins. This translates into about 1/2 tsp of seeds in each muffin. You'll have to take the time to calculate the nutritional value because the smallest serving size for which the USDA provides information is 1 tsp. To demonstrate the potential nutrition available from these tiny seeds, the basic nutrition, vitamin and mineral sections in this article give the nutrient values found in 1 tbsp of poppy seeds. Those values will be compared to a portion size of 1 tsp in the final section.
Basic Nutrition
One tbsp of poppy seeds contains 46 calories, 1.6 g of protein, 3.7 g of fats and 2.5 g of carbohydrates. In terms of the recommended daily value, or the amount of the nutrient needed in a 2,000-calorie a day diet, these values represent 2 percent of the daily value (DV) of calories, 3 percent DV of protein, 6 percent DV of fats and 1 percent DV of carbohydrates. Even though they are relatively high in fats, they also contain the heart-healthy fatty acids: omega-3 (.02 g) and omega-6 (2.48 g). Poppy seeds also provide 7 percent of the daily value of dietary fiber.
Vitamins
Poppy seeds are not a strong source of vitamins except for thiamin (5 percent DV) and folate (2 percent DV). They have small amounts of riboflavin and vitamin B6 (1 percent DV), and trace amounts of vitamin C, niacin and pantothenic acid.
Minerals
Poppy seeds are a good source of many minerals. You'll get 29 percent DV of manganese and 13 percent DV of calcium from 1 tbsp of poppy seeds. They also provide magnesium and phosphorus (8 percent DV), copper (7 percent DV), iron and zinc (5 percent DV), and potassium and selenium (2 percent DV).
Comparison
A serving size of 1 tsp only has 15 calories but still provides 1 percent DV of protein and 2 percent DV of dietary fiber. The amount of vitamins falls, with thiamin being the only one found in a significant quantity (2 percent DV). But you'll still receive 9 percent DV of manganese and 4 percent DV of calcium as well as 1 to 2 percent DV of all the other minerals listed above.
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