A recent press release from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science (The Vision Centre) indicates that research by Silvia Bisti, professor at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Vision Science (The Vision Centre), University of L’Aquila, Italy, has shown that saffron (a high-priced golden culinary herb made from crocus flowers) not only protects vision cells from damage, but may also act to slow and possibly even reverse vision loss caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD), retinitis pigmentosa and other diseases causing blindness.

A clinical trial with patients suffering AMD in Rome has yielded early indications that treatment with a dietary supplement of saffron may cause damaged eye cells to recover.

Another line of animal research has found that saffron is active in affecting genetic diseases of the eye, such as retinitis pigmentosa, and offers the prospect of slowing down the progression of sight loss.

And in yet another study, saffron given to human patients suffering from age-related macular degeneration, has resulted in signs of cell recovery.

Read ^[1] the full press release.