Abstract
BackgroundSaffron (stigma of Crocus sativus L.) from Iridaceae family is a well-known traditional herbal medicine that has been used for hundreds of years to treat several diseases such as depressive mood, cancer and cardiovascular disorders. Recently, anti-dementia property of saffron has been indicated. However, the effects of saffron for the management of dementia remain controversial. The aim of the present study is to explore the effectiveness and safety of saffron in treating mild cognitive impairment and dementia.MethodsAn electronic database search of some major English and Chinese databases was conducted until 31st May 2019 to identify relevant randomised clinical trials (RCT). The primary outcome was cognitive function and the secondary outcomes included daily living function, global clinical assessment, quality of life (QoL), psychiatric assessment and safety. Rev-Man 5.3 software was applied to perform the meta-analyses.ResultsA total of four RCTs were included in this review. The analysis revealed that saffron significantly improves cognitive function measured by the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog) and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale-Sums of Boxes (CDR-SB), compared to placebo groups. In addition, there was no significant difference between saffron and conventional medicine, as measured by cognitive scales such as ADAS-cog and CDR-SB. Saffron improved daily living function, but the changes were not statistically significant. No serious adverse events were reported in the included studies.ConclusionsSaffron may have the potential to improve cognitive function and activities of daily living in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, due to limited high-quality studies there is insufficient evidence to make any recommendations for clinical use. Further clinical trials on larger sample sizes are warranted to shed more light on its efficacy and safety.
Highlights
Saffron from Iridaceae family is a well-known traditional herbal medicine that has been used for hundreds of years to treat several diseases such as depressive mood, cancer and cardiovascular disorders
We aimed to review the effectiveness and safety of saffron for the treatment of Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia systematically and perform a meta-analysis to assess the magnitude of these effects, when possible
After reviewing the full texts of the remaining 10 papers, 6 were further excluded for the following reasons: saffron was used in combination with other herbs or vitamins (n = 5) and saffron was evaluated on non-dementia or MCI patients (n = 1)
Summary
Saffron (stigma of Crocus sativus L.) from Iridaceae family is a well-known traditional herbal medicine that has been used for hundreds of years to treat several diseases such as depressive mood, cancer and cardiovascular disorders. Ayati et al BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies (2020) 20:333 disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder and the most prevalent cause of dementia worldwide with an estimated prevalence of 10–30% in those aged > 65 years [6,7,8] It is characterized by cognitive decline with loss of memory [9]. No pharmaceutical medicines are currently available to cure dementia, some medications such as memantine (N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) channel blocker), and galantamine, donepezil and rivastigmine (cholinesterase inhibitors) are used clinically to manage symptoms of the disease These medications have some side effects such as headache, confusion, nausea and vomiting and leg cramp which are reported to be intolerable in some patients [10, 11]
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