Saffron

Our naturopaths talk saffron through every day, and most of the chat is about the dose and what saffron isn't. These are the questions they ask in store.

A good fit if

• You've been feeling a bit flat and want support for a healthy mood balance
• Your sleep has been restless or light, and you'd like something to take in the evening that isn't a sedative
• You're happy to check the label, because the dose decides whether it matches the trials
• You can give it a few weeks, since the trials measured results at 4 to 12 weeks

Check with us first if

• You take a prescribed antidepressant or other mood medicine. The trials that compared saffron with these replaced the medicine under medical supervision rather than adding saffron on top, and no interaction study exists.
• You take blood pressure medicine. Saffron lowered blood pressure slightly in pooled trials, and it hasn't been studied alongside those medicines.
• You take medicine for blood sugar. Saffron lowered fasting blood sugar a little in pooled trials, and the combination hasn't been studied.
• You're pregnant, trying to be, or breastfeeding. There's no safety data either way, so talk to us first.
• If you take prescription medicine, check with your doctor, pharmacist or our naturopaths before you start.

• Standardised stigma extract, 28 to 30 mg a day. Best known for: Mood. It's the most-trialled single preparation, and in one trial this dose worked where 22 mg didn't. Absorption: The trials didn't measure it directly. Typical use: Once a day. The mood trials ran for 4 to 12 weeks.
• Standardised stigma extract, 14 to 30 mg in the evening. Best known for: Sleep quality. In one trial 14 mg worked as well as 28 mg, and in another 20 mg matched 30 mg. Absorption: Not measured. Evening melatonin rose in the 14 and 28 mg trial, but that's a knock-on marker, not an absorption figure. Typical use: About an hour before bed, for 4 to 6 weeks.
• Saffron stigma powder, 15 mg twice a day. Best known for: Whole dried stigma (the saffron thread) rather than an extract. It's the form used in the premenstrual trials and other trials in women. Absorption: Not measured. Typical use: In the premenstrual trial, it was taken in the second half of the cycle only, for two cycles.
• Saffron powder, 100 mg a day. Best known for: The research dose behind the antioxidant marker results. It isn't a stronger version of the extract. Absorption: Not measured. Typical use: Mostly studied in people with a diagnosed condition, so it isn't an everyday retail dose.
• Crocin or crocetin on their own. Best known for: The colour pigment and the form it breaks down into in the body. Neither is an ingredient name on Australia's permitted list (Schedule 1). Absorption: Research describes crocetin as poorly absorbed. Typical use: They can't be named as the active in an Australian listed medicine, so you'll see them as a standardisation figure instead.
• Culinary saffron threads. Best known for: Cooking. It's regulated as a food, so it carries no health claim. Absorption: Not measured. Typical use: A few threads per dish. There's no reliable way to convert that to the extract doses used in trials.

Reference values. There aren't any. Saffron isn't a nutrient, so the NHMRC Nutrient Reference Values don't cover it, and there's no recommended intake or deficiency.

Typical supplemental range. Trial doses fall into three groups. For mood, 28 to 30 mg a day of a standardised extract, and in a trial that tested both, 22 mg didn't work. For sleep, 14 to 30 mg of extract in the evening, with 15.5 mg working in one trial that measured sleep objectively. The 100 to 200 mg a day powder doses come from research in people with diagnosed conditions. Milligrams of extract and powder can't be compared directly.

Upper level. Australia sets no daily cap for Crocus sativus (Schedule 1, item 1614). That means there's no limit set, not that it's been shown safe at any dose. A 2022 review said saffron's toxicity profile raises safety concerns, without naming a threshold dose, so more isn't better here.

Worth knowing. This isn't an overnight product. The mood and sleep trials measured results at 4 to 12 weeks. What you need depends on your age, diet and health, so talk to one of our naturopaths.

Food first, where the diet allows it.

• Saffron threads, used in Persian, Indian and Mediterranean cooking such as paella and risotto: no reliable milligram figure per serve exists, and a pinch can't be converted into a trial dose
• Saffron as one of the characteristic spices of the Mediterranean diet: studied as part of the diet rather than by quantity, so there's no per-serve figure

If any of these sound like you, talk to one of our naturopaths or your doctor before you start.

• Prescribed antidepressants or other mood medicines. No interaction study exists, and the trials used saffron instead of the drug, not alongside it.
• Blood pressure medicines. Pooled results show small drops in blood pressure, and the combination hasn't been studied.
• Glucose-lowering medicines. Pooled results show small drops in fasting glucose, and the combination hasn't been studied.
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding. The evidence we hold has no safety data either way.
• Children. It's only been used in trials in diagnosed patients under medical supervision.
• Higher doses. A 2022 review flagged concerns about saffron's toxicity without naming a threshold dose.
• If you take prescription medicines, check with your doctor, pharmacist or one of our naturopaths before you start.