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Comparison of the effect of saffron, crocin, and safranal on serum levels of oxidants and antioxidants in diabetic rats: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of animal studies

Y. Mohammadi, Azam Rezaei Farimani, H. Beydokhti, S. Riahi

Food Science & Nutrition, 2023

14 citations

Abstract

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the effect of saffron, crocin, and safranal on serum levels of oxidants and antioxidants in diabetic rats. The authors searched the databases with standard keywords until June 8, 2021. The random‐effects model was used to pool standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals to assess the effects of saffron and its active component. To investigate heterogeneity, subgroup analysis and meta‐regression were utilized. Begg and Egger's tests were used to measure publication bias. Our results showed that saffron, crocin, and safranal were able to significantly reduce the serum levels of oxidants with strong efficacy so that saffron had the highest effectiveness on serum malondialdehyde (SMD, −2.84 (μmol/L) [95% confidence interval (CI), −4.32 to −1.36]; p < .001, I 2 = 83.5%). In addition, saffron and its effective compounds were highly effective by increasing the serum level of antioxidants. In addition, saffron and its effective compounds were able to significantly increase the serum level of antioxidants with strong efficacy, while saffron had the highest effect on the serum level of total antioxidant capacity (SMD, 3.90 (μmol/L) [95% CI, 0.78–7.03]; p = .014, I 2 = 86.9%). The findings of this study show that treatment with saffron, crocin, and safranal by strengthening the antioxidant defense system and modulating oxidative stress shows antidiabetic effects in the diabetic model of rats, also these findings support the…

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Evidence Hub reads this as a systematic review, done in animal, not in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.

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