 In the double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled trial of saffron for PMS symptoms, the researchers also noticed a significant drop in symptoms of depression as well. Well, duh, it's probably because they just felt so much better, but researchers decided to put it to the test. Millions of Americans suffer from depression each year, disabling disease that can even end up fatal due to suicide. Enter saffron. A double-blind, randomized trial, saffron versus Prozac. For six weeks, 40 outpatients diagnosed with clinical depression got capsules containing the spice saffron, or identical-looking capsules containing Prozac. Within just one week, a significant drop in depression symptoms that got better and better throughout the six weeks. One of those lines is the Prozac group, the other is the saffron group, and as you can see, it doesn't really matter which is which, because they both worked equally well. Of course, 20% of Prozac users suffered from sexual dysfunction and all to come inside effect, whereas not one did in the saffron group. Patients and their families may view, quote-unquote, alternative medicine, that is, those treatments that are not traditionally taught in medical schools or generally practiced by clinicians as being complementary, even superior to conventional medicine, but in the majority of cases, there is simply no evidence to support that. But in the case of saffron, the evidence is growing.