Saffron: A Therapeutic and Prophylactic Nutrition for Human Population

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.), a perennial herb that belongs to iris family Iridaceae, is the most expensive spice in the world known for its aroma, taste and colour used for flavouring, colouring, medicinal and pharmaceutical industries. The colour, flavour and aroma of saffron are mainly due to crocin, picrocrocin and safranal, respectively. Main constituents for intense colour of saffron are lipophilic and hydrophilic carotenoids. These are β-crocetin, γ-crocetin, α-carotene, β-carotene, lycopene and zeaxanthin. A glycosidic form of crocetin digentiobioside (crocin 1) is most abundant by weight and soluble in water. In saffron pigments, crocetin portion is common with different sugar moieties which are gentiobiose, D-glucose and neapolitanose – a trisaccharide. The bitter taste of saffron is due to monoterpene aldehyde picrocrocin (C16H26O7). For aroma, main constituent responsible is safranal and its hydroxyl derivative formed by hydrolysis of picrocrocin during drying. Modern-day drugs generally have unwanted side effects, which led to the current trend to use naturally occurring products with therapeutic properties. According to the studies, saffron plays a key role to cure different digestive system disorders via chemoprevention, inhibition of cell proliferation, induction of apoptosis, antioxidant effects and radical scavenging, genoprotective property, prevention of lipid peroxidation and anti-inflammatory processes. The outcome of these mechanisms shows potential therapeutic properties of saffron against liver cancer, hepatotoxicity, fatty liver, hyperlipidaemia, stomach cancer, peptic ulcer, colon cancer, ulcerative colitis, diabetes and pancreatic cancer and ileum contractions. Hence, more studies on saffron need to be done to see its effects on different parts of body for its broad use as therapeutic and prophylactic nutrition.