Difference between revisions of "Saffron"

Revision as of 04:35, 4 April 2012

Special Precautions of Saffron

The benefits of Saffron are

Saffron is a naturally derived plant product from the Iris family. It must be hand-picked and dried. Three acres of the flower only produces one pound of saffron.

• Some studies suggest saffron extracts may have benefits of memory-enhancing, anti-cancer and anti-oxidative activities.Saffron may be able to against lots of cancers such as leukemia, ovarian carcinoma, colon adenocarcinoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, papilloma, squamous cell carcinoma, and soft tissue sarcoma. In vitro study, sacrcoma's effect on carcinoma, sarcoma and leukemia cells is dose-dependent. In a study of rats, saffron delays tumor growth and increase the life span of the animals. It also delays the onset of papilloma growth and decreases the incidence of squamous cell carcinoma and soft tissue sarcoma. A study indicates its effect may be related to a significant inhibition of nucleic acid synthesis. It appears that saffron (dimethyl-crocetin) disrupts the DNA-protein interactions e.g. topoisomerases II, which is important for cellular DNA synthesis. It is believed that crocetin and / or crocin attribute(s) such activity. Please, note that these are either animal or in vitro studies,clinical studies are needed to support saffron health benefits.Research studies about saffron benefits on cancer. A recent study reports that crocetin is an anti-tumor agent in animal models and cell culture systems. It affects the growth of cancer cells by inhibiting nucleic acid synthesis, enhancing anti-oxidative system, inducing apoptosis and hindering growth factor signaling pathways.

[Gutheil WG et al, Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2011 Apr 5.]. In a study, rats were treated with diethylnitrosamine as to induce liver cancer Administration of saffron at doses of 75, 150, and 300 mg/kg/day was started 2 weeks prior to the diethylnitrosamine injection and was continued for 22 weeks. Saffron significantly reduced the number and the incidence of hepatic dyschromatic nodules. [Amin A et al, Hepatology. 2011 May 23. doi: 10.1002/hep.24433] Another study demonstrates that crocin induces apoptosis and G1-phase cell cycle arrest of human pancreatic cancer cell line BxPC-3 cells! The study shows the effect of crocin (cell viability) is dose and time dependent [Bakshi H, et al, Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2010;11(3):675-9.]Similarly, ethanolic extract of saffron also decreases cell viability in malignant lung cancer cells as a concentration and time-dependent manner, in another study. [Samarghandian S et al, Pharmacogn Mag. 2010 Oct;6(24):309-14.]

• Crocetin benefits - atherosclerosis : Crocetin is a carotenoid (8,8'-diapo-8,8'-carotenoic acid) with seven double bonds and four

methyl groups. It contributes the most health benefits of saffron. In addition to its effect on cancer cells, crocetin also enhances the oxygen diffusivity through plasma and other liquids, increases alveolar oxygen transport and enhance pulmonary oxygenation. In study of hemorrhaged rats, crocetin improves cerebral oxygenation and shows benefits on the atherosclerosis and arthritis treatment. In other animal studies, crocetin inhibits skin tumor promotion.

• neurodegenerative Disorders : Saffron extract, crocetin and crocin may have benefits on people suffered from neurodegenerative disorders accompanying memory impairment. In a study, the effects of a daily, 7-day, intraperitoneal administration of saffron on cognitive functions were examined in both healthy adult (4 months old) and aged (20 months old), male Balb-c mice (n=8/group), by passive avoidance test. Results showed that saffron-treated mice exhibited significant improvement in learning and memory, accompanied by reduced lipid peroxidation products, higher total brain antioxidant activity and reduced caspase-3 activity in both age groups of mice. [Papandreou MA, et al, Behav Brain Res. 2011 Jun 1;219(2):197-204.] In studies of mice, saffron extract improved ethanol-induced impairments of learning behaviors

and prevented ethanol-induced inhibition of hippocampal long-term potentiation (related to learning and memory abilities). Researchers believe that crocin may attribute this effect.

• major depression : Several human clinical trials provide preliminary positive evidence of antidepressant effects of saffron. [Sarris J et al, Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2011 May 20]
• oxidative stress : Rats were injected with saffron extract, crocin or vehicle over a period of 21days while being exposed to chronic restraint stress (6h/day). After this, they were trained and tested on a water-maze spatial memory task. Saffron and crocin prevented the impairment of learning and

memory as well as the oxidative stress damage to the hippocampus induced by chronic stress. [Ghadrdoost B, et al, Eur J Pharmacol. 2011 May 18.]

• high lipid levels : In a study of hyperlipemia rats, crocin decreased cholesterol, triglyceride and density lipoprotein

levels, and increased the content of high density lipoprotein.

• Researchers believe that crocin prevents atherosclerosis in hyperlipemia, via inhibition of both proliferation of smooth muscle

cells and activation of p38MAPK.