How Saffron may help with Depression, Alzheimers and Glaucoma
Most of us only use saffron in paella or biryanis, but there is a growing amount of clinical data that suggests that those golden stamens are beneficial for depression, glaucoma and Alzheimer’s.
Glaucoma is a condition that leads progressively to vision loss via increased intraocular pressure (IOP). An Iranian study involving 34 patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) were split into 2 groups of 17. One group received the eye drops timolol and dorzolamide as well as 30mg of saffron orally on a daily basis. The control group received timolol and dorzolamide and a placebo.
After 3 weeks of treatment IOP was significantly decreased in the saffron group compared to the control group. None of the patients experienced any side effects during the trial.
As regards Alzheimer’s, 68 patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s received memantine (20 mg/day) or saffron extract (30 mg/day) as capsules for 12months. Participants were assessed every month by two different tests commonly used to assess the progression of the disease. The conclusion of the trial was that saffron performed just as well as Memantine in reducing cognitive decline in patients.
There have been 5 controlled clinical trials that have investigated the impacts of saffron on mood in depressed patients. The results show that saffron supplementation significantly reduced depression symptoms.