Yang XY, et al. - A systematic search in several electronic databases, as well as manual search in bibliographies of relevant studies, were conducted to examine the efficacy and safety of saffron in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) in comparison to placebo and synthetic antidepressants. Change in scores on depressive symptoms from baseline was the primary outcome. Remission rate, response rate, and drop-out rate for all reasons were the included secondary outcomes. A random-effects model was chosen in order to obtain more conservative results. Researchers reported that saffron was effective in the treatment of MDD and had comparable efficacy to synthetic antidepressants. In addition, saffron was a safe drug and no serious adverse events were reported in this investigation.