The waste of saffron crop, a cheap source of bioactive compounds

- Active compound in extract from Crocus sativus has significant antioxidant activities.
- The optimized by-product mixture was effective against cancer and oxidative stress.
- Identification of new bioactive compounds in cheap by-products from saffron crop.
- New phenolic constituents were tentatively identified using ESI-MS/MS.

The present study aimed to estimate the biological valorization potential of food saffron by-products through biological activities of phenol content in alcoholic and ethyl acetate extracts of five by-products of Crocus sativus L.: leaves, tepals, spaths, corm, and tunics. The results evidence the presence of products with bioactive capacities in cheap by-products like spaths, leaves and corms. The LC-MS/MS analysis showed methanolic fraction of stigmas contained as major products the crocins while fractions of spaths and leaves contained predominantly flavonoids. We also showed the presence of flavonols and flavones which exhibit antioxidant capacities, activate proteasome in human dermal fibroblast cells from aged donors and inhibit the growth and proteasome activity of cancer cells. Altogether, our data indicate that compounds present in saffron's by-products, such as the leaves or spaths, might be valuable for food valorization and should be studied as a useful biological product for its anti-aging and anti-cancer abilities.