{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,13]],"date-time":"2026-10-13T11:21:06Z","timestamp":1791890466545,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":63,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,4,26]],"date-time":"2019-04-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1556236800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"NIH","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["G12MD007597"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["G12MD007597"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Saffron is a natural compound that has been used for centuries in many parts of the world as a food colorant and additive. It was shown to have the ability to mitigate various disorders through its known anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. Several studies have shown the effectiveness of saffron in the treatment of various chronic diseases like inflammatory bowel diseases, Alzheimer\u2019s, rheumatoid arthritis as well as common malignancies of the colon, stomach, lung, breast, and skin. Modern day drugs generally have unwanted side effects, which led to the current trend to use naturally occurring products with therapeutic properties. In the present review, the objective is to systematically analyze the wealth of information regarding the potential mechanisms of action and the medical use of saffron, the \u201cgolden spice\u201d, especially in digestive diseases. We summarized saffron influence on microbiome, molecular pathways, and inflammation in gastric, colon, liver cancers, and associated inflammations.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu11050943","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,4,26]],"date-time":"2019-04-26T07:52:59Z","timestamp":1556265179000},"page":"943","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":125,"title":["Saffron: The Golden Spice with Therapeutic Properties on Digestive Diseases"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4048-4666","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hassan","family":"Ashktorab","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, Department of Pathology and Cancer Center, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC 20059, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Akbar","family":"Soleimani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, Department of Pathology and Cancer Center, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC 20059, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gulshan","family":"Singh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8888-1102","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Amr","family":"Amin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biology Department, UAE University, Al Ain 15551, UAE"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Solmaz","family":"Tabtabaei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical Engineering; Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giovanni","family":"Latella","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition  division, Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences,  University of L\u2019Aquila, 67100 L\u2019Aquila, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7006-282X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ulrike","family":"Stein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Charit\u00e9-Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin and Max-Delbr\u00fcck-Center for Molecular Medicine, 13125 Berlin, Germany"},{"name":"German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), 69120 Heidelberg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shahin","family":"Akhondzadeh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Psychiatric Research Center, Roozbeh Hospital, Tehran University Medical Sciences, Tehran 14167-53955, Iran"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Naimesh","family":"Solanki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Neuropsychopharmacology Laboratory, Department of Anatomy, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC 20059, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marjorie C.","family":"Gondr\u00e9-Lewis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Neuropsychopharmacology Laboratory, Department of Anatomy, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC 20059, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aida","family":"Habtezion","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hassan","family":"Brim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, Department of Pathology and Cancer Center, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC 20059, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,4,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"376","article-title":"The effects of Crocus sativus (saffron) and its constituents on nervous system: A review","volume":"5","author":"Khazdair","year":"2015","journal-title":"Avicenna J. 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