Saffron, Organ Toxicity and Clinical Complications: A Review

  The perennial herb saffron belongs to the Lily family. From ancient times, saffron as traditional medicine is used as an effective drug for treatment of eye, nervous system, digestive system, kidney, cardiovascular, respiratory, and reproductive systems disorders. Pharmacological research has shown the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptotic effects of saffron and its compounds. However, reports have been made on the toxic effects of saffron and its active substances (Crocin, Crosteen, Safranal). This review considered the scientific literature on the toxic effects of saffron and its active ingredients. We searched the literature for basic and clinical studies concerned with the toxic effects of saffron and its active compounds. The electronic databases including PubMed-Medline, Embase, Google Scholar, and Scopus were searched till to 2019. Keywords were crocus sativus, saffron, safranal, toxicity, crocetin, crocin, picrocrocin combined in different ways to retrieve related articles. The present study provides information on the organic toxicity of saffron and its active components, as well as their side effects in humans. The results of this study showed that the therapeutic doses of saffron and its active ingredients do not induce toxic effects in clinical or experimental studies. Due to the reported toxic effects of saffron and its components in humans, thus the safety of this plant is unclear. It seems that the use of high doses of saffron, especially for pregnant women, should be taken with more care.