derived. If its striking beauty does not im- mediately cast a spell on its beholder, often it simply takes experiencing the spice to fall into full enchantment with it.
C
While saffron is excep- tionally expensive, because it takes approximately 150 flowers to yield just 1,000 mg (0.035 oz) of dry saffron threads, and costs approxi- mately $1,000 a pound, it does not take much to have an effect. Its uniqueness is also illustrated by the fact that it shuns mechanization, re- quiring of its would-be pos- sessors painstaking harvest- ing by hand, as no doubt has been done for tens of thou- sands, if not hundreds of thousands of years. Because each Crocus sativus flower bears no more than four flow- ers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas from which the spice is derived, at most only 12 stigma are produced by each, which yields the equivalent of 30 mg (0.011 oz) of fresh saffron or 7 mg (0.00025 oz) dried.
learly there is something magical about the Crocus sativus flower, from which the spice saffron is
tions of a goddess presiding over the manufacturer and use of a drug from the saffron flower. Perhaps even more amazing is the fact that 50,000 year-old depictions of prehistoric places in northwest Iran contained saffron-based pigments, indicat-
Ancient Healing Powers Confirmed by Science
SAFFRON:
might that be?
While mainstream coverage of saf- fron's weight loss promoting properties (via appetite suppression) on the Dr. Oz show has caused quite a surge of renewed interest in this exotic spice, saffron has far more to offer than that. It may, in fact, hold promise for seri- ous neurodegenerative con- ditions such as Alzheimer's disease.
Saffron's Evidence-Based Therapeutic Properties A 22-week multicenter,
ing the human relationship with saffron is as old as time itself. Saffron's chemistry expresses other-
Saffron has been documented to have been used as a versatile medicine since ancient times. In 2004 researchers study- ing 3,500 year old frescoes at Thera, a Greek island in the Aegean, found depic-
worldly complexity. It contains over 150 volatile and aroma-yielding compounds – a biochemical symphony that ensures its mystery will never fully be plumbed, at least insofar as it great medicinal power remains refractory to the reductionist gaze of modern pharmacology. What power
randomized, double-blind controlled trial of saffron in the management of mild-to- moderate Alzheimer's dis- ease published in 2010, showed 15 mg twice a day was as effective as donepezil (Aricept) at 5 mg twice a day, with significantly less vomit- ing as a side effect. Another 16-week, randomized and placebo-controlled trial also published in 2010, showed that 15 mg of saffron twice per day was both safe and
effective in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. This study is all the more powerful when you consider that Aricept, while the standard of care for the management of Alzheimer's symptoms, is actually a highly toxic chemical: Declaring Chemical Warfare On The Brain: Alzheimer's Drugs Are Neurotoxicants. The petals of the Crocus sativus plant
Robinhood Integrative Health Bruce Lantelme, MD
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• Bioidenti cal Hormone Replacement Therapy • Adrenal & Thyroid problems • Breast Health • Perimenopause / Menopause
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