HWN Suggests

The strange, booming market of Florida's palmetto berries

In 2010, the NCCIH funded a double-blind study of saw palmetto to treat prostrate issues, giving one group of patients 160mg dose daily and the other group a placebo. They found no benefit, but after pushback due to the low dosage, they funded another study in 2013, this time giving one group 960mg per day and the other a placebo. Again, there was no benefit, and actually, the placebo proved more effective.

“Not to put too fine a point on it, but we have not found any that have been effective as they’re marketed,” Dr Hopp said of the broader marketplace. Those studies spanned echinacea, cranberry, elderberry, St John’s wort, and ginkgo biloba among others. “In none of them have we…

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Articles of Interest

How Saw Palmetto Might Help Your Prostate

Saw palmetto is a type of palm tree. Its extract is commonly available in supplements that claim to improve certain aspects of male health, including improving inflammation related to prostate health, balancing hormone levels, and preventing hair loss. It’s commonly sold as softgels, tablets and capsules, though you can also find it in ground, liquid or powdered forms.

A Hope for the Prostate Among the Rattlesnakes

On vacant lots and deep in swamps, beside the roads and scattered through cow pastures -- practically everywhere in the Deep South -- grows a wild berry that offers hope of relief to millions of men. The fruit of saw palmetto, known to botanists as Serenoa repens, has been used in Europe to relieve the symptoms of enlarged prostates for decades. Doctors there routinely prescribe it. But in the United States, saw palmetto has been relegated to the ranks of dietary supplements, and until recently enjoying little sanction from medical doctors. Even without official approval of the medical establishment, palmetto has become the fifth most popular medicinal herb, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Alternatives: Saw Palmetto for the Prostate? Maybe, Maybe Not

The fruit of the saw palmetto plant is widely used in the United States by men who believe that it can relieve swollen prostate glands. In Europe, it is commonly recommended by doctors. But a new study raises questions about whether the herbal extract does any good at all.

Popular Herb Shows No Benefit for Prostate

Saw palmetto, an herbal supplement taken by 2.5 million Americans for problems with enlargement of the prostate gland, is no more effective than a placebo in alleviating the condition, according to a new study.

Rethinking the Role of Saw Palmetto Extract for Men with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in North America

The effect of the lipidosterolic extract derived from Serenoa repens (commonly known as “saw palmetto extract” or LSESr) berries on benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and male lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) has been extensively studied in the global literature. However, a lack of global consensus with regard to its effectiveness remains.

Saw Palmetto and BPH – Past, Present, and Future

Dr. Nickel clarifies that he thinks that saw palmetto is a good alternative treatment for BPH patients looking for less invasive disease management options as long as a USP (US Pharmacopeial Convention)-approved product that is analyzed thoroughly is used.

Saw Palmetto No Better Than Sugar Pill For Prostate Problems

If you're one of the millions of men who takes the supplement saw palmetto for prostate trouble, there's more evidence that it's not worth the money. A clinical trial that gave saw palmetto every chance to succeed — eventually increasing the daily dose of the stuff to three times the usual amount — found it was no better than a placebo.

Saw Palmetto Works No Better Than Placebo for Prostate Symptoms

Millions of middle-aged men take saw palmetto extract to relieve the urinary-tract symptoms of an enlarged prostate, but a new study finds that the supplements work no better than placebo.

Spotlight on Saw Palmetto: What the Science Says

Although several small studies have suggested modest benefit of saw palmetto for treating symptoms of BPH, a large study evaluating high doses of saw palmetto and a Cochrane review found that saw palmetto was not more effective than placebo for treatment of urinary symptoms related to BPH. A single randomized controlled trial showed combination therapy of saw palmetto plus lycopene, selenium, and tamsulosin was more effective than single therapies alone.

Study Casts Doubt on Saw Palmetto as Prostate Remedy

A new study in The New England Journal of Medicine indicates "saw palmetto" does not work to shrink enlarged prostates. At least 2 million men take the supplements, often on the advice of doctors. Smaller studies have shown that saw palmetto does work, but this is the largest study to date.