Affron® Saffron
Crocus sativus stigmata, patented by Pharmactive in La Mancha.
Saffron is the dried stigma of Crocus sativus, a bulbous perennial of the family Iridaceae, harvested by hand at dawn during a two- to three-week autumn window. Between 150 and 200 flowers yield one gram of dried saffron, which is why it remains the most expensive spice by weight on the world market. The material in LUCID is Affron, a proprietary aqueous ethanolic extract produced by Pharmactive Biotech Products (Madrid, Spain) under a patented process (Affron AFF00003) that standardises the extract to a minimum 2 percent Lepticrosalides, an analytical marker complex that includes safranal, crocins, and picrocrocin. Presentation: a fine dark red-brown powder, characteristic sweet-metallic aroma, hygroscopic. Each shipment carries the Pharmactive Certificate of Analysis, verifying identity by HPLC-DAD, marker assay, contaminant panels aligned with European Pharmacopoeia, and confirmation of adulterant absence.
The 28 mg calibration is the specific dose used in the published academic record on Affron in cognitive-task designs (Kell et al., 2017, Complementary Therapies in Medicine; Lopresti et al., 2018, Journal of Affective Disorders). We did not round to 30 mg. We did not scale to 100 mg to appear generous. We calibrated to the exact article that was studied, at the exact dose that was studied. The choice of the Pharmactive brand rather than a generic saffron powder is the same choice we made for Cognizin and Suntheanine: the tested article. Saffron is one of the most adulterated ingredients in the global supplement supply chain, sometimes substituted with safflower petals or dyed silk threads. Buying the branded, patent-controlled Affron eliminates that risk at the source.
Affron is produced by Pharmactive Biotech Products SL in Madrid, Spain, from Crocus sativus stigmata sourced from cultivators in the La Mancha region under Denominacion de Origen Protegida (DOP). The extraction process (Affron AFF00003) is carried out at low temperature to preserve the marker profile. Each incoming lot at LIMINATE is re-verified at Eurofins Antwerp against the Pharmactive Certificate of Analysis before release to encapsulation.
Affron saffron sits ninth in the composition table, in the adaptogenic-support band. It is the smallest plant-derived mass in the ten actives and one of the two most compositionally distinctive.
