MIND. Herb Spotlight: Saffron for Mood.
The crocus flower peaking out from the soil is a sure sing of Spring in the Pacific Northwest. I have just loved witnessing a gorgeous purple carpet develop over the landscape, accented by the emerald green of healthy Spring shoots. While the wild-blooming type of Crocus sativus is generally not the kind used for culinary saffron that is found frequently in Indian cuisine, its pervasive presence this time of year has inspired me to do a deeper dive on the research of saffron.
While saffron has been used for nearly 4,000 years in Ayurvedic (Indian) and Persian medicine for reproductive issues such as menstrual pain, infertility, libido, and more, recent research has revitalized known traditional uses for mood regulation. A 2020 randomized control trial split 56 healthy adults with feelings of subclinical depression and anxiety. The experimental group took 30 g of saffron per day for eight weeks. At the end of the study, the experimental group showed improvements with improved depression scores as well as raised HRV, a sort of marker of nervous system resilience to stressors. Levels of the main plant constituent thought to have an anti-depressive effect, crocetin, were measured in urine and had a direct correlative effect with change in depression scores (1).
What’s more, a 2015 meta-analysis review concluded that traditional anti-depressants vs. saffron were about as effective in reduction of symptoms of depression (2). You betchya that I will be offering the benefits of this plant more to patients who can be afflicted with seasonal affective disorder or other milder depressive symptoms.
If you do end up utilizing Crocus sativus for mood support, make sure you give some serious appreciation to the plant and the harvesting process. The saffron is taken from the stigma of the plant, and it can take 150 flowers to produce just one gram (!).
Sources:
(1) Jackson, P. A., Forster, J., Khan, J., Pouchieu, C., Dubreuil, S., Gaudout, D., Moras, B., Pourtau, L., Joffre, F., Vaysse, C., Bertrand, K., Abrous, H., Vauzour, D., Brossaud, J., Corcuff, J. B., Capuron, L., & Kennedy, D. O. (2021). Effects of Saffron Extract Supplementation on Mood, Well-Being, and Response to a Psychosocial Stressor in Healthy Adults: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Parallel Group, Clinical Trial. Frontiers in nutrition, 7, 606124. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2020.606124
(2) Hausenblas, H. A., Saha, D., Dubyak, P. J., & Anton, S. D. (2013). Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) and major depressive disorder: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Journal of integrative medicine, 11(6), 377–383. https://doi.org/10.3736/jintegrmed2013056
