Saffron an introduction
Saffron is the dried red-orange stigma or thread of the flower. It is due to its low availability also known as red gold or golden spice. It is widely used for coloring, flavoring, or cosmetics industries. Due to its immense health benefits, it is widely used in many herbal medicines.
The main health benefits of saffrons are it is aphrodisiac in nature and also improve sexual performance. Along with this daily intake of milk also improves sperm quality. Due to its high antioxidant properties, it is also used to treat liver, kidney, Premenstrual syndromes (PMSs), neurogenerative, respiratory, and digestive disorders. But there is always a limit to how much should be used and the side effects of using excess. So the next question arises how much saffron should we take or use?
How much saffron should we take?
Daily intake of saffron up to 1.5 g/day has not been found any adverse effect. However, doses higher than 5 g are toxic, and at 20 g are lethal. A high dosage of over 10 g may cause abortion, therefore, it should be avoided in pregnancy owing to its uterine stimulation activity (1).
Side effects of the high dose of Saffron (2,3)
- Nausea
- Head fullness
- Dizziness
- Vomiting
- Uterus bleeding
- Hematuria
- Gastrointestinal bleeding
- Anxiety
- Sedation
- Appetite suppression
- Skin yellowing
- Dry mouth
- Constipation
- Abdominal pain
- Damage to the nervous system