Botanicals & extracts
The carotenoid that makes saffron red and most of what a standardised extract is standardised to.
Not yet investigated
The carotenoid that makes saffron red and most of what a standardised extract is standardised to.
This star is on the map because the show intends to take the question apart properly — the trials, how it is actually tested, whether the thing sold is the thing studied. That work is not done yet, and nothing here should be read as a conclusion. When the investigation is published it will appear on this page.
What we are reading
Gathered for the investigation and not yet written up. Each note says what the paper does and does not show.
Crocin and safranal are the two constituents the antidepressant work keeps pointing at, and the constituents commercial extracts are standardised against. Same structural problem as curcumin: a brightly coloured, poorly absorbed plant pigment with a large in-vitro literature and a much smaller human one.
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Also in Botanicals & extracts
The letter
The full citation list for each investigation, the studies that didn't make the episode, and any corrections — sent the morning it publishes.
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