Foods to Fight the Blues (Page 4)

3. Saffron

Saffron, those expensive red threads that lend Persian cooking an intense golden color, may not be a spice you cook with often. But using it could raise your spirits. As Joyce Hendley reported in EatingWell Magazine, saffron has long been used in traditional Persian medicine as a mood lifter, usually steeped into a medicinal tea or used to prepare rice. Tehran University of Medical Sciences researcher Shahin Akhondzadeh, Ph.D., has found that saffron has antidepressant effects comparable to the antidepressants fluoxetine (Prozac) and imipramine (Tofranil), likely because it makes the feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin more available to the brain (the same mechanism that makes Prozac work).

Must-Try: Healthy Saffron Recipes »

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