I'm surprised there's hardly any talk of Saffron on this forum. I have a bottle I haven't yet tried due to going through other combinations and being on things that could have interacted, but I remain curious.
Saffron has been shown to help depression in a few studies. The main constituents that seem to come into play here are crocin and safranal. There doesn't seem to be a ton of information on what they are doing, but this article (http://www.actahort..../650/650_54.htm) suggests, "Crocin may act via the uptake inhibition of dopamine and norepinephrine, and safranal via serotonin." The article "Saffron in phytotherapy: Pharmacology and clinical uses" seemed to go into some more detail, mentioning also an effect on NDMA receptors, but I can't get the full text of it. I was also seeing that safranal acted as an anxiolytic in some articles, perhaps involving GABA-A (http://www.mums.ac.i.../saffron/a5.pdf)
In this study, it was shown to be more effective than placebo for depression:
http://onlinelibrary...r.1647/abstract
In this study (sorry for pdf) saffron was equal in effectiveness to Prozac:
http://www.narvalpha...NA_elsevier.pdf
If not for its effects on depression, check this out: it was equal in efficacy to Aricept in this study:
http://link.springer...-1706-1?LI=true
Sometimes it's hard for me to tell when certain supplements aren't talked about because they're not the "fad" or they just don't seem to work all that well. When you buy saffron it's often advertised as a weight loss supplement, much like others that focus on stress related eating due to the antidepressant effect. I see it get a lot of bad reviews due to that, but I don't really trust people who think that taking a bit of saffron is going to really change a serious weight issue.
Thoughts?