Neuroprotective properties of dietary saffron: more than just a chemical scavenger?

There is increasing evidence that consumption of saffron, a spice derived from the flower of the Crocus savitus plant, has various therapeutic effects, including protection of the central nervous system. These beneficial effects have been widely attributed to the strong antioxidant properties of saffron and its key constituents, although data showing that these antioxidative properties are potentiated by the presence of living cells (Ordoudi et al., 2009) suggest actions that extend beyond direct chemical scavenging. One recent study (Skladnev et al., 2016) has provided evidence that dietary saffron can modulate the brain transcriptome, up-regulating specific stress-inducible pathways – coupled with the observation that saffron exhibits a non-linear dose-response relationship, these findings suggest that saffron, like other phytochemicals, might exert its neuroprotective effects by acting as a mild biological stressor.