In this month of March, a subject particularly concerns Etienne Pot, interministerial delegate for the national strategy for neurodevelopment disorders: the… saffron. Hair in battle and outspokenness, the doctor never misses an opportunity to pester about this bright red spice that has become very trendy in recent times in the food supplements. To believe those who market it, it would be a new fountain of youth, almost a panacea, which would act as well against stress, lack of sleep, menstrual disturbances and even against deficit disorder (ADHD) – precisely one of the conditions of which Etienne Pot is responsible for the executive.
The delegate has in particular in his viewfinder the activities of a company, Naali, born in 2020 and in full development in recent weeks. This Lyon start-up was indeed released in February in February from the M6 flagship program, Who is my partner : Its founders have convinced a jury of entrepreneurs to invest more than 600,000 euros in their commercial adventure. Since then, sales of society have exploded, as well as interest around “saffron therapy”, the art of treating itself by the saffron (sic) that it intends to “democratize”.
1 million euros in one evening
Just in the evening of its passage on M6, Naali garnered for 1 million euros in additional turnover, as much as all of its activity in 2023. The company’s production channels could not absorb this abrupt influx, in the order of 90,000 additional customers. Result, his “ADHD” gums, his “menstrual” creams, his “menopause” capsules and his “digestion” drinks will take several weeks to be delivered. “All orders will be honored,” said the company in early March, faced with the concern of its new fans.
This sudden success worries Etienne Pot, who is particularly vigilant about the risks of therapeutic abuses. According to him, such a phenomenon could be the symptom of the broader emergence of a whole series of beliefs on saffron, so far little used in the arsenal of “grandmothers remedies” marketed as food supplements. The delegate therefore seized the inter -ministerial mission to combat sectarian aberrations (Miviludes), so that it accentuates its surveillance on the subject.
Etienne Pot also wonders about Naali’s commercial methods. The company, founded as part of the incubation program “Entrepreneur in the City” supported by the former president of Olympique Lyonnais Jean-Michel Aulas, highlights customers, children, who, like patients, testify to an improvement in their condition, facing the camera: “Before […] It was the bazaar in my head. I was stressed. Now I can work better, focus better, “said one of them, in an advertisement published on February 24 and already viewed more than 540,000 times on Facebook.
“Replace the ritalin”
A problematic staging, according to Etienne Pot: “We do not sell products with therapeutic pretension as we would sell shoes. Taking up the words of people concerned by ADHD, who lend almost miraculous virtues to saffron, it is very problematic, especially at a time when French experts in this disorder have produced precise recommendations on its management, under the aegis of the High Health Authority.” In fact, these content is all the more harmful as they go so far as to say that the saffron “could very well replace” (sic) Dearned drugs such as ritalin, a derivative of amphetamine, prescribed to help the concentration of people who have ADHD, whose life can be particularly chaotic.
The statement in question is subtle: in this video, Nadir Tayach, the company’s co -founder, never talks about his products, but of the “saffron” in general. He knows it, it is not possible to say that his capsules are drugs, at the risk of giving the impression of selling “illegal therapy”, a pharmaceutical product without marketing authorization. “It is not a treatment and anyway, ADHD is not a disease, we simply propose to relieve the daily concerns of these people,” he said On the phone, surprised that the inter -ministerial delegate did not come to talk to him directly about the imbroglio.
According to Nadir Tayach, these commercial processes are quite in good standing. “Everything has been verified upstream, with our scientific and legal services,” he said. The fact remains that such remarks unconsciously instil the impression that there would be a “demonstrated effect” of saffron and that, by association of ideas, it would be better to buy the Naali capsules than the tablets of pharmaceutical laboratories.
A study is not enough
An argument all the more attractive as the study cited by Nadir Tayach seems serious at first. “It was led by the University of Tehran and published in 2019 in a correct scientific journal, the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. It was made on a small sample of people, only 54 patients, but it claims an ambitious methodology. There is a control group, which receives only a placebo, and the doctors ignore who receives what, which is imperative to avoid biases, “comments Hugo Peyre, psychiatrist and researcher at the Montpellier University Hospital and specialist in neurodevelopment disorders.
Except that a study is not enough to pretend to demonstrate such effects. “To prove that a product for therapeutic purposes is effective and that its dangers are mastered, it would be necessary to review more patients and to confirm these results by other clinical trials. It is not possible to be based on a single study to do this type of promise, and even less to present the spice as an alternative. It is scandalous, because behind, we speak of the health of patients sometimes in great difficulty, and who may believe that they can believe that Treatment “, continues the specialist.
L’Express found the main study of the study, Dr. Shahin Akhondzadeh. Man, unknown in the Western scientific community, is convinced that saffron could one day be promising, if other research is carried out on the subject. Problem, the studies on which it is based are not “randomized”: doctors know to whom they give saffron or ritalin, which has a huge impact on the results, and disqualifies, automatically, the use of these analyzes as proofs of efficiency.
Subtle allegations
What’s more, Shahin Akhondzadeh himself is surprised by Naali’s statements: “When standard treatment is effective or does not cause side effects, it is not correct to stop it and use an alternative,” he recalls. In reality, according to a systematic literature review published in 2023 in the review Journal of CAPTE DISORDERSor one of the highest levels of evidence that we can find in scientific publications, no other study has never confirmed the interest of saffron against ADHD. Scientists therefore agree that there may be a research track, but in no way a therapeutic solution.
In addition, if Naali really had a product that changes cognition, mood and concentration like ritalin, it could not sell it. His chewing gums should first obtain the green light from the health authorities, a process that would require much more extensive tests, on thousands or even tens of thousands of patients. His gums would then obey the very strict rules of the drug market, which also limits advertising on the Internet and the use of testimonies of patients. The National Medicines Safety Agency was seized by Etienne Pot, to clear this case.
Jean-Michel Aulas, present in the program Who is my partnerand financially engaged in the Naali adventure up to several hundred thousand euros, admits to ignoring the rules in terms of therapeutic claims. “What I liked was the entrepreneurial adventure of Nadir Tayach and his partner, Abderhaman Nour Ebad. He is a duo that comes from the disadvantaged districts of Lyon, and who manages to develop an exceptional business on the commercial level, with a real social aspect”, defends this seasoned entrepreneur by citing the Naali recruitment policy, focused on people who are Handicap.
UN, and international
A commitment that earned the two Rhone entrepreneurs to be invited to the prestigious premises of the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday, March 18. Naali is invited to the Palais des Nations by the Prudence League association to come and defend the place of companies to build an attractive future. A series of pleadings called Campus 2045, in the presence of associations, researchers and students. “If we did not have a positive impact, we would not have been invited, right?” Argue Nadir Tayach. For him, the controversy around these allegations is only a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. The businessman dreams of being “leader” of saffron therapy, a concept he admits … being of his vintage. He now sells his “overpowered red gold” to “help” against all kinds of other issues, such as the effects of age, depression or menopause.
For the past year, Nadir Tayach has been organizing monthly meetings within his business. Its customers are invited to exchange, to “create a link”, with a “health practitioner”. He sees it as a solution against loneliness and mental health problems, but also the opportunity to inform about health subjects. The first guest? A sophrologist “specialized in endometriosis”. A profession not recognized by the medical profession.
Lécouchee by impressive margins-more than 70 %-and the diligence of customers-34 % of them are considered regular-, many partners now flock to the doors of the company, convinced that it has a great future, beyond France. “We are asked in Germany, the United Kingdom and even in the United States, to distribute our products,” he said. None of these new investors sought to verify whether the alleged benefits of the saffron for health were very real, assures the entrepreneur. Only promises count.
.