The effect of saffron supplement on clinical outcomes and metabolic profiles in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis: A randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled clinical trial

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune and inflammatory disease. Our study aimed to determine the effect of saffron supplement on clinical outcomes and metabolic profiles in patients with active RA. In this randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial, 66 women older than 18 years old received 100 mg/day either saffron supplement in the intervention group (n = 33) or matched placebo in the placebo group (n = 33) for a period of 12 weeks. Sixty‐one patients (30 in the control and 31 in the saffron group) remained for the final analysis. No adverse effects were reported by the patients. Saffron supplementation significantly decreased the number of tender (−1.38 ± 1.66 vs. 0.10 ± 0.40, p < .001) and swollen (−2.12 ± 2.34 vs. 0.63 ± 2.79, p < .001) joints, pain intensity based on visual analogue scale (−18.36 ± 15.07 vs. −2.33 ± 5.04), p < .001), and disease activity score (DAS28) (−0.75 ± 0.67 vs. 0.26 ± 0.77, p < .001) at the end of intervention between the two groups and in saffron group compared with baseline values. Physician Global Assessment (p = .002) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate were significantly improved after intervention (24.06 ± 12.66 vs. 32.00 ± 14.75, p = 0.028). High‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein reduced at the end of the intervention in the saffron group compared with baseline values (12.00 ± 7.40 vs. 8.82 ± 7.930, p = .004). Tumor necrosis factor alpha, interferon gamma, and malondialdehyde were decreased, and total antioxidant capacity were increased, but their differences between the two groups were not significant (p > .05). According to the results, saffron supplements could positively and significantly improve clinical outcomes in RA patients.

The effect of black barberry hydroalcoholic extract on immune mediators in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis: A randomized, double–blind, controlled clinical trial

“…This shows that black barberry extract could reduce measures such as swollen and tender joints. Our result is in accordance with that of Hamidi et al (Hamidi et al, 2020) in which saffron was supplemented to RA patients. It seems that antioxidative supplements are effective in reducing the activity of RA.…”

Do Interventions with Diet or Dietary Supplements Reduce the Disease Activity Score in Rheumatoid Arthritis? A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

“…Shishehbor et al studied 2 g/day cinnamon power (Cinnamomum burmannii) in comparison to placebo capsules in a two month RCT [ 26 ]. Hamidi et al compared 100 mg/day of saffron to placebo in a 3 month RCT [ 27 ]. All three studies showed significant improvement in DAS28 in comparison to the placebo.…”

“…Shishehbor et al and Hamidi et al both found effects on swollen joints, and the former also found an effect on CRP (Aryaeian et al did not report results on the individual components of DAS28). The studies were of high [ 26 ] and intermediate quality [ 25 , 27 ]. The quality of evidence was considered moderate that daily large doses of cinnamon, ginger, and saffron reduces DAS28 in RA.…”

Effects of Saffron Extract on Sleep Quality: A Randomized Double-Blind Controlled Clinical Trial

“…In depressive patients supplemented with both an antidepressant and 28 mg saffron extract for 8 weeks, no effect could be observed on the different SF-36 scores compared to the placebo [ 29 ]. In other contexts, a saffron extract supplementation was found to reduce pain in patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis [ 30 ] or to reduce the delayed-onset muscle soreness after eccentric exercise in university students [ 31 ]. Altogether those results suggest that saffron could be interesting in other contexts than anxiety and depression [ 32 , 33 ] but further studies are needed to confirm those effects.…”