Mineral source – Poppy seeds act as source for a variety of minerals like iodine, manganese, magnesium, zinc and copper.

Other important ingredients – Poppy seeds also offer a number of ingredients, which include thiamine, riboflavin, lecithin, oxalic acid, pentosans and amorphous alkaloid.

Enzymes – Poppy seeds also help in enhancing the enzymes like diastase, emulsin, lipase and nuclease in the human body.

Fatty acids – These seeds are also good sources of fatty acids, especially the omega-3 fatty acids, which are required by human body to ensure good health. Thus, you may consume these seeds in various forms and foods to supply these acids to body.

Carbohydrates – Poppy seeds may also be considered as good sources of carbohydrates and thus, these are helpful in enhancing the level of energy supplied to human body for routine functions.

Digestion – Poppy seeds are also considered as useful remedies for facilitating effective process of digestion in human body.

Seeds oil – Poppy seed oil is also used as condiment to add flavor to different types of recipes.

Heart diseases – The presence of linoleic acid in poppy seeds protect human body from heart attacks and other heart disorders.

Breast cancer – The oil made from poppy seeds is helpful in treating breast cancer, as it contains oleic acid.

I realize that this post is a few years old, however I read over the comments and noticed that no one answered your question about the health value of poppy seeds. I once read somewhere that eating a large amount of poppy seeds (I believe it was a whole lemon poppy seed loaf cake in the study) will cause you to test positive for opiates on a drug test. Now, a whole loaf cake is a ridiculous amount of poppy seeds, but either way it shows that they are a source of opiates. Apparently the poppy (flower) is what they use to make opium. Outside of that I don’t know of any benefit or drawback, but I wanted to share what I know!