Crocus sativus L. versus Citalopram in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder with Anxious Distress: A Double-Blind, Controlled Clinical Trial

Abstract

Saffron (.) has demonstrated antidepressant effects in clinical studies and extensive anxiolytic effects in experimental animal models. 66 patients with major depressive disorder accompanied by anxious distress were randomly assigned to receive either saffron (30 mg/day) or citalopram (40 mg/day) for 6 weeks. Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) and Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A) were used to assess treatment effect during the trial. 60 participants finished the study. Patients who received either saffron or citalopram showed significant improvement in scores of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (P-value<0.001 in both groups) and Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (P-value<0.001 in both groups). Comparison of score changes between the 2 trial arms showed no significant difference (P-value=0.984). Frequency of side effects was not significantly different between the 2 groups. The present study indicates saffron as a potential efficacious and tolerable treatment for major depressive disorder with anxious distress.

The Efficacy of Saffron in the Treatment of Mild to Moderate Depression: A Meta-analysis

“…Consequently, we considered these two papers as one RCT. Therefore, a total of 11 placebocontrolled, randomized trials with 531 patients were included in the qualitative analysis [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32].…”

“…Altogether, ten articles reporting on nine trials were included in our final quantitative analysis [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][29][30][31]. Akhondzadeh et al [32] provided the baseline HAM-D scores numerically, but the outcomes were shown only graphically in a figure, therefore, we could not include the results of this trial in the quantitative analysis.…”

“…Only studies assessing well-characterized saffron products and using pharmacological doses of saffron were included in our meta-analysis. In four studies, a commercially available product, SaffroMood, was used [23,26,27,29]. Each SaffroMood capsule contained 15 mg 80 % ethanolic dry extract of the stigma of C. sativus, and it was standardized to crocin (1.65-1.75 mg/capsule).…”

Is Really Crocus Sativus as Effective as Citalopram in the Treatment of Depression?

“…Recently you published a comparison of crocus sativus vs. citalopram [1]. This paper concludes that crocus is as effective as citalopram in the treatment of mild to moderate depression.…”

Author’s Reply to the Letter to the Editor by Fountoulakis

“…Recently, a letter to the editor entitled "Is really crocus sativus as effective as citalopram in the treatment of depression?" has concerned our investigation about safety and efficacy of Crocus sativus L. (saffron) in the treatment of mild to moderate depression [1]. The present study fulfilled all the characteristics of a typical randomized controlled trial, including the randomized allocation of interventions to the trial arms, and blinding of the patients and investigators [2].…”