Diabetes is a chronic disease caused by high blood sugar greatly affected by diet. The chemical medicines applied to treat diabetes usually have side effects. This study aimed to investigate the effect of saffron petals, damask rose petals, and saffron-damask rose petal herbal teas on weight loss, fasting blood sugar, lipid profile, and the inflammatory factors of diabetic rats.

In this study, 40 male Sprague Dawley rats with an average age of four weeks received a high-calorie, high-fat, high-sugar diet for nine weeks. The rats were then randomly assigned to five groups, including normal, control, saffron petal, damask rose petal, and saffron plus damask rose petal groups. For nine weeks, 3 mL of the herbal tea was administered to the intervention groups daily through oral gavage. The levels of FBS, lipid profile, Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1C), and glucose tolerance test (GTT) were measured following the intervention.

Saffron petals reduced weight gain, Triglyceride (TG), and HbA1c and increased hs-CRP and IGF-1 (all p < 0.05). The damask rose petal reduced weight gain, FBS, hs-CRP, and HbA1c and increased the IGF-1 (all p < 0.05). Saffron plus damask-rose petals reduced the weight gain, TG, hs-CRP and HbA1c, and increase IGF-1 factor (all p < 0.05) compared to the control group. No significant effect was found on visceral fat, LDL-C, and HDL-C. Compared with the normal group, saffron petals and damask rose petals increased the FBS, HDL, and LDL levels. Damask rose and the combination of saffron petals and damask rose decreased IGF-1 compared with the normal group (all p < 0.05).

Saffron and damask rose petals could have beneficial effects on improving the status of biochemical markers. The simultaneous use of saffron and damask rose may counteract the adverse effects of saffron on inflammatory indices.