<p>Effects Of Saffron Supplementation On Inflammation And Metabolic Responses In Type 2 Diabetic Patients: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial</p>

Abstract

BackgroundType 2 diabetes (T2D) is accompanied by elevated inflammation, oxidative stress, hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia which all contribute to cardiovascular disease pathogenesis. Saffron as a complementary medicine and source of antioxidants could play a role in alleviating diabetes and its complications. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of saffron supplementation as an adjunct therapy in T2D.Patients and methodsThis randomized controlled trial included 80 T2D patients with a mean age of 54.1 years. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups to take either saffron tablets (100 mg/day; n=40) or placebo (n=40) for 12 weeks. Fasting blood samples were obtained at the beginning and after the intervention period to quantify glycemic factors, lipid profile, and biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress. Anthropometric indices and dietary intakes were also measured at baseline and at study end.ResultsCompared with placebo, saffron supplementation resulted in significant decreases in waist circumference (p<0.001) and malondialdehyde (MDA) (p=0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in other indices, including anthropometric parameters, serum insulin, fasting blood glucose, HbA1c, insulin sensitivity indices, lipid profile, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, total antioxidant capacity, and tumor necrosis factor-α between the study groups (p>0.05).ConclusionOverall, 12 weeks of saffron supplementation in diabetic patients had beneficial effects on waist circumference and serum MDA levels. However, saffron did not influence other evaluated cardio metabolic risk markers in diabetic patients.

Silencing cyclophilin A improves insulin secretion, reduces cell apoptosis, and alleviates inflammation as well as oxidant stress in high glucose-induced pancreatic β-cells via MAPK/NF-kb signaling pathway

“…Inflammation and oxidative stress are two major factors contributing to diabetes-induced injuries [43,44]. And inhibition of inflammation and oxidative stress develop protective effects in diabetes [45][46][47][48]. Cyclophilin A is confirmed to be secreted by cells under the stimulation of inflammation and oxidative stress [49].…”

Saffron supplementation effects on glycemic indices: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials

“…The dosage of administered saffron were between 15 and 1000 mg/day and crocin ranging from 5 to 30 mg/day. Nine studies were used saffron, [13,16,18,[20][21][22]25,30,31] 4 crocin [7,23,24,32] and 2 studies both crocin and saffron . [19,29] The included studies consisted of metabolic syndrome, [21,24] CAD, [19,30] psychosocial disorders, [22,29] T2DM, [16,18,20,25,31,32] prediabetes [13] and healthy [7,23] subjects.…”

“…Nine studies were used saffron, [13,16,18,[20][21][22]25,30,31] 4 crocin [7,23,24,32] and 2 studies both crocin and saffron . [19,29] The included studies consisted of metabolic syndrome, [21,24] CAD, [19,30] psychosocial disorders, [22,29] T2DM, [16,18,20,25,31,32] prediabetes [13] and healthy [7,23] subjects. In 8 studies, patients received hypoglycemic medications [16,[18][19][20]24,25,31,32] combined with saffron supplementation and in other studies [7-,13-,21-,23-,29-,30] saffron supplemented alone.…”

“…Articles identified through databases searching (n=1250) studies ranked as good, [7,13,16,22,[29][30][31] 4 as fair [19,21,24,32] and 3 as poor quality . [18,20,23,25] Table 1 presents characteristics of the included studies and Table 3 the results of risk of bias assessment of eligible studies.…”

“…[18] While there are a number of optimistic claims regarding the beneficial effects of saffron in diabetic patients as mentioned above, some studies have been equivocal . [7,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25] Moreover, most of them had small population and short study duration. Regarding these considerations, this systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials seek to accurate and precise assess the effects of saffron supplementation on glycemic indices, including fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting insulin, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), Quantitative Insulin Sensitivity Check Index (QUICKI) and Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) among both diabetic and non-diabetic adult patients.…”