Ingredient Spotlight: Saffron

Saffron, often referred to as “red gold,” is not just a culinary luxury—it’s a potent tool in managing stress, uplifting mood, and promoting overall emotional well-being.¹ Sourced from the Crocus sativus flower, saffron has long been valued in both traditional Ayurvedic practices and modern medicine for its rich bioactive compounds, and within the last two decades there have been hundreds of clinical studies examining its potent effects on our mental health.

What are bioactive compounds? They’re naturally occurring plant compounds that can enhance the nutritional value of food or supplements and offer benefits to the brain, heart, and immune system. Essentially, they’re what give plants their medical benefits.

Saffron contains an impressive 150 bioactive compounds, including carotenoids, like crocin and crocetin, which give it its rich color and powerful antioxidant benefits. These small-but-mighty compounds protect cells from damage caused by oxidative stress (where harmful free radicals overwhelm the body's antioxidant defenses) and support immune health.² Saffron is also rich in safranal, an aromatic compound responsible for its unique flavor and calming effects, known to help regulate mood and reduce stress.¹ Together, these bioactive compounds work together to enhance overall health, emotional balance, and uplift mood.

Saffron’s antioxidant properties and bioactive compounds like crocin, crocetin, and safranal, can help to counter oxidative stress and promote overall health.

Cortisol, the "stress hormone," plays a crucial role in your body's fight-or-flight response, helping you respond quickly to challenges. However, when cortisol is constantly activated, it’s like keeping your foot on the gas pedal of a car. Eventually, the engine overheats and the system wears down, causing burnout.

When stress goes unchecked for long periods of time, it can cause a cascade of negative effects in the body, like cell damage, inflammation, and reduced immune response. It can also lead to the development of oxidative stress from free radicals.³ Just like rust eats away at a car, free radicals can build up in the body, damaging cells. Without the protective support of antioxidants, these free radicals can spread, damaging cells just as rust eats away at the part’s of a car.

Fortunately, we can bolster our body’s defense system by giving it antioxidant support to help neutralize free radicals and reduce oxidative damage. There are plenty of antioxidant-rich foods that you can incorporate, one of them being saffron.

How, you ask? Saffron works by acting on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis—the body's central stress response system—to help regulate cortisol levels. By keeping cortisol in check, saffron helps to reduce some of the negative effects of prolonged stress, like fatigue, mood swings, and inflammation.⁵

For even greater stress-reducing benefits, saffron can be paired with adaptogens like ashwagandha or rhodiola. While these adaptogens help balance the body’s stress response, saffron works to reduce oxidative stress and promote a healthy inflammatory response.

Beyond stress relief, saffron plays a role in improving mood through its effect on serotonin, a neurotransmitter that regulates mood and promotes emotional stability and well-being.¹

These mood-boosting benefits can once again be attributed to the bioactive compounds found in saffron: crocin and safranal (the stars of the show). It’s no wonder why saffron has become a popular natural alternative when looking to address mood and emotional well-being.

Alongside the spice cabinet, you can find saffron in many teas and supplements, a potent choice being a supplement featuring Affron®. Affron® is a research-backed standardized form of saffron extract with the ability to significantly reduce stress and improve mood, particularly at a daily dosage of 28 mg per day.

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, 121 healthy adults with low mood took either 28 mg or 22 mg of Affron®, or a placebo for 4 weeks. The results were impressive: participants taking 28 mg/day of Affron® experienced significant improvements in mood and reductions in stress and situational anxiety.⁶

Another randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial explored the effects of saffron on sleep quality in healthy adults who reported poor sleep. Over a 28-day period, participants taking 28 mg/day of saffron (Affron®) experienced significant improvements in sleep quality and restorative sleep, with noticeable results within just seven days.⁷ The study showed that saffron effectively reduced sleep disturbances and promoted more restorative rest without any significant adverse effects, offering a natural remedy for better sleep. The result of a good night’s rest can be pivotal for a good mood and good day ahead.

When choosing a saffron supplement—be it a pill, gummy, or tincture—it’s important to look for those with standardized extracts like Affron®, which have been clinically tested at effective dosages of 28 mg/day to experience the same benefits. It's also important to look for products that are third-party tested for purity, ensuring they are free from unnecessary fillers and contaminants.

For more helpful tips while supplement shopping, check out our 101 guide to supplement shopping.

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.2020.60612
2. Maoka T. (2020). Carotenoids as natural functional pigments. Journal of natural medicines, 74(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-019-01364-x
3. Pizzino, G., Irrera, N., Cucinotta, M., Pallio, G., Mannino, F., Arcoraci, V., Squadrito, F., Altavilla, D., & Bitto, A. (2017). Oxidative Stress: Harms and Benefits for Human Health. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity, 2017, 8416763. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/8416763
4. Cerdá-Bernad, D., Valero-Cases, E., Pastor, J. J., & Frutos, M. J. (2022). Saffron bioactives crocin, crocetin and safranal: effect on oxidative stress and mechanisms of action. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition, 62(12), 3232–3249. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2020.1864279
5. Saeedi, M., & Rashidy-Pour, A. (2021). Association between chronic stress and Alzheimer's disease: Therapeutic effects of Saffron. Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie, 133, 110995. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2020.110995
6. Kell, G., Rao, A., Beccaria, G., Clayton, P., Inarejos-García, A. M., & Prodanov, M. (2017). affron® a novel saffron extract (Crocus sativus L.) improves mood in healthy adults over 4 weeks in a double-blind, parallel, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Complementary therapies in medicine, 33, 58–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2017.06.001
7. Lopresti, A. L., Smith, S. J., Metse, A. P., & Drummond, P. D. (2020). Effects of saffron on sleep quality in healthy adults with self-reported poor sleep: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 16(6), 937–947. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.8376