Dietary supplements from saffron: what do we know about their quality?

Sendker, Jandirk; Chen, Bin-bin; Lechtenberg, Matthias; Hensel, Andreas

Abstract

Saffron, the dried, tripartite stigmas from the flowers of Crocus sativus L. are used for symptomatic treatment of mild depression. The herbal material is an expensive commercial product, so quality problems do not seem unlikely. So far, there are no official drug registrations for this product, but saffron products are marketed as dietary supplements (NEM). The aim of the present study was to investigate the quality of selected saffron food supplements obtained through different distribution channels. For this purpose, a validated method was used to quantify saffron-typical ingredients (crocin-1, crocin-2, picrocrocin and safranal). All nine commercial preparations of this investigation in capsule form contained the ingredient "saffron extract" within the respective declaration. However, microscopic examination of the capsule contents indicated only the presence of highly powdered plant material. In this respect, the designation "extract" does not appear to be justified for these preparations, as they are not concentrated preparations. Eight of the nine saffron capsule preparations examined were confirmed regarding the presence of saffron, and the saffron-typical ingredients could be detected in relevant quantities. In one preparation, crocins were found, but neither picrocrocin nor safranal; in addition, the iridoid glucoside geniposide was detected. This finding suggests that in this preparation saffron was replaced by material from Gardenia jasminoides (Gardeniae fructus). Like saffron, this plant material contains crocins and thus can mimic saffron. The investigation shows that in order to improve the product quality of food supplements, especially those containing botanicals as value-determining ingredients, increased analytical efforts are necessary to ensure product quality and in the interest of consumer protection.