benefits of saffron

Saffron is a popular spice and an expensive one too. Its taste makes it great for usage in food, as refreshment and even for making beverages. Saffrons unique colour, flavour and other properties give it culinary and medicinal characteristics that make it renowned all over the world. It belongs to the Iradaceae family and is a native of the South Europe regions. These regions originally cultivated and used saffron on a daily basis.

Saffron is mostly known for its inclusion in food items. But it has very significant nutrients and chemical compounds which are beneficial in providing medicinal benefits.

One of the main saffron benefits when used in cooking food is that it contains many plant derived chemical components which are known to prevent diseases. They are also known to promote overall well-being of the body.

The plant part from which saffron is obtained contains essential but volatile oils which when added to food, imparts its unique flavour and benefits of saffron as a spice. Some of these oils are cineole, pinene, borneol, geraniol etc.

Apart from the volatile oils, there are also non-volatile active components like carotenoid compound that are anti-oxidants beneficial to the body. These prevent free radical reactions which produce harmful by-compounds and diseases. Some of the carotenoids like zea-xanthin, lycopene, alpha and beta carotene are widely appreciated. This is also one of the main uses of saffron.

In many religions, saffron is not just considered a spice. It is used in various types of therapies like body healing, detoxification and also in the spas.

The active components in the saffron make our body lose its depressing characteristics making it a dietary necessity sometimes.

Potassium also helps maintains the blood pressure and keeps heart diseases at bay.

Iron is a very useful component in the body as the blood requires it to form haemoglobin and it is a co-factor in the red blood cell production too.

The overall mineral content including calcium, vitamins, proteins etc present in Saffron ensure the maintenance of optimum health.