01/28/2026
A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial published in Phytomedicine studied 60 breastfeeding mothers with mild-to-moderate postpartum depression. The mothers were given either 15 mg of saffron twice daily (30 mg per day) or a placebo for 8 weeks, and depression severity was measured using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II).
By the end of the study, mothers taking saffron showed much greater improvement than the placebo group. Their depression scores dropped sharply, and 96% of the saffron group reached clinical remission, compared to 43% in the placebo group. Two-thirds of the saffron group showed a full treatment response, showing that saffron significantly reduced postpartum depression symptoms without standard antidepressants.
PMID: 29157808
