Saffron

Flower extract from Crocus sativus, the true saffron, a plant from the swordline family, which was probably originally native to Greece. The extract is used in cosmetic products as a skin care product.

The main components of the extract are essential oil (safranal), colorants and bitter substances.

The dried stigmas (threadlike parts of the flower) are used to make saffron spice. It can take 75,000 saffron flowers to produce a single pound of saffron spice. The bulb is grown primarily in Iran, but also in India, Greece and Spain. Saffron is largely grown and harvested by hand. Due to the high amount of work involved in harvesting, saffron is considered one of the most expensive spices in the world.

In food, saffron is used as a spice, yellow food colouring and as a flavouring.

In industry, saffron extracts are used as a fragrance in perfumes and as a dye for fabrics.

The medicinal use of saffron or Crocus sativus L. (C. sativus) has a long history that began in Asian countries in the late Bronze Age. Recent studies have shown some potential to reduce the risk of various diseases (Poma A et al. 2012).

The main components of saffron, which are extracted from the saffron stigmas, are:

• Crocin
• crocetin
• picrocrocin and
• safranal

natural carotenoid compounds. The mean lethal doses (LD50) of C. sativus are 200 mg/ml and 20.7 g/kg in vitro and in animal studies, respectively.

Saffron is described as effective in the treatment of a variety of conditions. These include coronary heart disease, eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, dry eye syndrome (Crocin) and diabetic maculopathy (Ali S et al (2021). Furthermore, saffron extracts have been used in autoimmune disorders (Korani S et al 2019), arterial hypertension, "gastric distress", dysmenorrhea, and learning and memory disorders (Heitmar R et al 2019).

In addition, several studies have indicated that saffron has pleiotropic anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and neuroprotective effects. The efficiency of C. sativus in the treatment of mild to moderate depression has been described in some clinical studies (Noorbala AA et al. 2005, Khazdair MR et al. 2015).

Medicinally, saffron is used for depression, anxiety, Alzheimer's disease, menstrual cramps (dysmenorrhea), and premenstrual syndrome (PMS). However, there is no good scientific evidence to support these indications.

1. Ali S et al (2021) Crosslinked Hyaluronic Acid with Liposomes and Crocin Confers Cytoprotection in an Experimental Model of Dry Eye. Molecules 26:849
2. Baradaran Rahim V et al (2019) Crocin protects cardiomyocytes against LPS-Induced inflammation. Pharmacol Rep 71:1228-1234.
3. Heitmar R et al. (2019) Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) in Ocular Diseases: A Narrative Review of the Existing Evidence from Clinical Studies. Nutrients 11:649.
4. Khazdair MR et al. (2015) The effects of Crocus sativus (saffron) and its constituents on nervous system: A review. Avicenna J Phytomed 5:376-391.
5. Korani S et al. (2019) Therapeutic effects of Crocin in autoimmune diseases: A review. Biofactors 45: 835-843.
6. Noorbala AA et al. (2005) Hydro-alcoholic extract of Crocus sativus L. versus fluoxetine in the treatment of mild to moderate depression: a double-blind, randomized pilot trial. J Ethnopharmacol 97(2) 281-284.
7. Poma A et al. (2012) Anti-inflammatory properties of drugs from saffron crocus. Antiinflamm Antiallergy Agents Med Chem. 11:37-51.