Original analysis, September 2026
Safranal and crocin across 339 saffron supplement labels
A percentage on a saffron label states what the extract was formulated to contain. Across all 339 saffron products filed with the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database, 76 state one, 142 state a weight of extract with no percentage behind it, and 121 state neither.
Every figure below is a label claim a company filed itself. None of them is a measurement of any particular bottle, and that includes ours.
We pulled the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database on September 13, 2026 and counted every record. The method is in the last section, and anyone can repeat it in a browser tab.
Correction, September 14, 2026. The first version of this page reported that 225 of 339 products stated no figure of any kind. That count was read from one field of each record. Reading the full label instead shows 142 products state a milligram amount the first method could not see, so the correct figure is 121. The percentage counts moved slightly too, from 78 to 76. Every number below is the corrected set, and the method section now describes what was actually read.
The findings, in one place
- 339 saffron products are filed in the database, from 150 distinct brands.
- 76 of 339, or 22%, state a standardization percentage. That is the figure telling you how much of a marker compound the extract was made to.
- 142 of 339, or 42%, state a milligram amount with no percentage behind it. A weight of extract, and nothing about what is in it.
- 121 of 339, or 36%, state neither.
- Stated safranal runs from 0.03% to 2%, a spread of roughly 67 times, across 9 distinct values.
- Stated crocin clusters between 3% and 11%, with one record at 0.03% and one at 20%.
- 17 distinct percentage strings are in use, built on three marker compounds: safranal, crocin and a proprietary one called Lepticrosalides. One label states its percentage together with the method used to measure it.
- 113 of 339 records, a third of the database, are marked off-market. The category turns over quickly.
- The filings don't agree on spelling. Both safranal and saffranal appear on labels companies submitted themselves.
Percentages are rounded to whole numbers. The underlying counts are exact and are listed in full below.
Source: NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database, US National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. All 339 saffron product records, read 13 September 2026 and recounted 14 September.
How many saffron supplements state a standardization percentage?
76 of 339, or 22%. Another 142 give a milligram amount for the saffron ingredient and no percentage, and the remaining 121 give neither.
The 142 in the middle are the group worth sitting with. A milligram figure tells you how much extract is in the capsule and nothing about how concentrated that extract is, so two bottles both reading 88.5 mg can hold materially different amounts of the compounds the extract is sold for.
| What the label states | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| A standardization percentage | 76 | 22% |
| A milligram amount, no percentage | 142 | 42% |
| Neither | 121 | 36% |
| Total | 339 | 100% |
What range do the stated percentages cover?
Stated safranal runs from 0.03% to 2%, a spread of roughly 67 times across 9 distinct values. A 0.03% product and a 2% product carry the same word on the same shelf.
Clustering does happen. 0.3% safranal is stated 26 times and 2% safranal 16 times. Together that's 42 of the 92 figures on record.
16 of those 76 products state two figures at once. That is why the figures total 92 while the products total 76.
| Stated on the label | Times stated |
|---|---|
| 0.3% safranal | 26 |
| 2% safranal | 16 |
| 3% crocin | 14 |
| 0.2% safranal | 7 |
| 0.03% safranal | 6 |
| 0.34% safranal | 4 |
| 3.48% crocin | 4 |
| 3.5% Lepticrosalides | 3 |
| 11% crocin | 3 |
| 0.03% crocin | 2 |
| 0.22% safranal | 1 |
| 0.4% safranal | 1 |
| 0.08% safranal | 1 |
| 1.34% safranal | 1 |
| 10% crocin | 1 |
| 20% crocin | 1 |
| 2% safranal, measured by UV VIS | 1 |
Source: NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database, all 339 saffron records. Figures taken from the structured ingredient forms array and the ingredient notes field of each label record, combined.
Which saffron supplements state a safranal or crocin percentage?
76 of the 339 do, and they are named below because each figure is quoted from the label that company filed with the NIH. The database is public, so any of these can be checked in a browser tab.
Brands appearing with a stated figure include Life Extension, Nutricost, Arbonne, Douglas Laboratories, Integrative Therapeutics, Natural Factors, Paradise, Performance Lab, SuperSmart, California Gold Nutrition, Lake Avenue Nutrition, Vibrant Health, Global Healing Center and Premier Research. Each figure above is quoted from the label that company filed. No product here is graded against another.
Why can't two saffron percentages be compared directly?
Because the labels aren't measuring the same thing. Safranal and crocin are different compounds in the same spice, and a third group standardizes to a proprietary marker called Lepticrosalides, and neither the label nor the database states how that marker relates to either.
A 3% crocin extract and a 0.3% safranal extract are not one figure ten times the other. They are two different measurements, and nothing on either label tells a buyer how to convert them.
Format widens the gap again. The 339 records include capsules, tinctures, powders, gummies and drink mixes, and a percentage of an extract means something different in a liquid dropper than in a pressed capsule.
What does a percentage on a label actually tell you?
A percentage states the specification the extract was made to. That's a claim about how a raw material was produced, and it is a useful thing to know.
What it doesn't do is describe the bottle in your hand. A specification is written before a batch exists. Confirming that a particular production run met it takes a laboratory reading that run, and a report carrying that run's lot number.
Our own label sits in the middle group, and it is worth naming that rather than leaving it out. Saffron360 states Saffron Extract 88.5 mg (Crocus sativus L.) (flower) and no percentage at all, which is the same shape as the 142. Saffron360's certificate confirms identity by FTIR and covers purity, so it carries no safranal or crocin figure either.
We can tell you the species matched a reference standard and the heavy metal and microbiological screens came back within USP limits. What that certificate cannot tell you is a safranal or crocin amount, because the method does not measure one.
The argument on this page applies to our own bottle exactly as it applies to every row in the table. We are not the exception to it.
How was this counted?
Every saffron record was pulled from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database through its public search endpoint, in seven pages of 50, and then the per-label endpoint was called for each of the 339 to read the full label.
A standardization figure can sit in either of two places: a structured forms array carrying a marker name and a percent, or the ingredient notes string the company filed, for example Saffron (Form: 0.22% Safranal). Both were read and combined, and duplicates within a product were counted once.
Reading only the notes string is what produced the error corrected at the top of this page. It cannot see the milligram amount, which lives in the Supplement Facts panel, so 142 products looked as though they stated nothing when in fact they state a weight.
The database is run by the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, it's free, and it needs no key. Browse it at NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database, or query it at api.ods.od.nih.gov/dsld/v9/search-filter?q=saffron&size=50&from=0, stepping the last value to 300, then api.ods.od.nih.gov/dsld/v9/label/{id} for each result. A journalist can reproduce every number above without asking us for anything.
We plan to re-run it quarterly. The record count and the off-market share are the two figures that move, and this page will carry the date of the most recent pull.
What can a buyer check instead?
Ask for the certificate that covers the lot number printed on the bottle. One document, tied to one production run, written by a laboratory that didn't make the product.
The checklist below works on any brand, including this one. Run it on whatever is already in your cupboard.
- How to verify a saffron supplement the brand-agnostic checklist
- BatchProof how a lot number reaches its certificate
- Third-party lab results by lot one row per lot
- Saffron360 certificate of analysis transcribed in full
- Can you test a saffron supplement at home? why the water test fails on a capsule
Questions about the data, or a correction? Email hello@numilove.com and we will publish any correction with the date on it.