Foods to Boost Mood - 5

Saffron

In one study, from Iran’s Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospital at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 50 women with PMS were given two (15 mg) saffron capsules or placebo capsules daily over two menstrual cycles, keeping track of their symptoms in diaries. By the end of the study, over three-quarters of the women who had taken the equivalent of a micropinch of saffron reported that their PMS symptoms (such as mood swings and depression) declined by at least half, compared with only 8 percent of women in the placebo group. In earlier studies, saffron had antidepressant effects comparable to the antidepressants fluoxetine (Prozac) and imipramine (Tofranil). Researchers believe that the spice works by “the same mechanism as Prozac,” helping to make the feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin more available to the brain.