SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Clinical Diabetes
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1634982
This article is part of the Research TopicNutraceutical Formulations and Natural Compounds for the Management of Chronic DiseasesView all articles
The efficacy of saffron supplementation on Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Chongqing Health Center for Women and Children, Chongqing, China
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Background: In this study, a meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the changes in the levels of inflammation and oxidative stress levels in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients after saffron supplementation.A comprehensive and systematic investigation was carried out to identify relevant studies on PubMed, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library and EMBASE databases. The investigation aimed to find studies that tested the efficacy of saffron supplements in reducing inflammation and oxidative stress in people with type 2 diabetes. The data were synthesized using Revman 5.4 software to perform a meta-analysis.Results: A total of five relevant articles involving 261 patients were included. The meta-analysis results demonstrated a significant reduction in TNF-α levels following saffron supplementation compared to the placebo group. However, no significant changes were observed in the levels of CRP levels (SMD:0.01, 95% CI: -0.52 to 0.05, P = 0.97), IL-10 levels (SMD:0.31, 95% CI: -0.05 to 0.67, P = 0.09), IL-6 levels (SMD: -0.28, 95% CI: -0.79 to 0.24, P = 0.29), MDA levels (SMD: 0.01, 95% CI:-0.28 to 0.30, P = 0.95) and TAC levels (SMD: -0.09, 95% CI: -0.42 to 0.24, P = 0.59).The findings of this meta-analysis provide compelling evidence to support the efficacy of saffron supplementation in reducing the effects of TNF-α levels in individuals with T2DM. Nevertheless, the present body of research is still limited in its ability to establish the precise impact of saffron supplementation on oxidative stress and other inflammatory factors in T2DM patients.
Keywords: saffron, type-2 diabetes mellitus, Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, Meta-analysis
Received: 25 May 2025; Accepted: 15 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Qin, Hu, Wang and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lulu Qin, Chongqing Health Center for Women and Children, Chongqing, China
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