Johns Hopkins Health Alert
Should You Try Saw Palmetto for Your BPH Symptoms? What We Recommend
Some men elect to use saw palmetto or other plant-derived substances to manage the uncomfortable symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
While saw palmetto -- derived from berries of the saw palm tree -- is the most well-known herbal treatment for BPH, it’s not the only one. African plum, trinovin, South African star grass, flower pollen extract, soy, stinging nettle, rye pollen, purple cone flower and pumpkin seeds also are used to manage BPH symptoms, as are supplements of the minerals zinc and selenium.
A dietary supplement called beta-sitosterol has shown some benefits in patients with BPH, including improvements in urinary symptoms and urine flow rates. However, well-conducted studies of beta-sitosterol are limited.
In contrast, an analysis of 21 well-conducted studies of saw palmetto (including more than 3,000 men with BPH) found that saw palmetto supplement users were 76 percent more likely to have experienced symptom improvement than men taking a placebo.
However, a randomized trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine found no significant differences in symptoms between men taking saw palmetto and those taking a placebo. The adverse effects related to saw palmetto are usually mild and infrequent. They include headache, dizziness, nausea and mild abdominal pain.
If saw palmetto is going to work, it usually does so within the first month. Therefore, saw palmetto supplements should be stopped if symptoms do not improve after a month of use.
Bottom line: If saw palmetto supplements do relieve symptoms, you may want to continue taking them, but inform your doctor that you are doing so. The typical dose of saw palmetto is 160 mg taken twice a day. Saw palmetto supplements that contain at least 85 percent free fatty acids and at least 0.2 percent sterols are the most likely to be effective.
Posted in Enlarged Prostate on January 24, 2012
Medical Disclaimer: This information is not intended to substitute for the advice of a physician. Click here for additional information: Johns Hopkins Health Alerts Disclaimer
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Can men with BPH safely take fish oil?
Posted by: Prof Possum | February 12, 2012 7:54 PM
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Finally you are speaking favorably of saw palmetto. And, yes, it works very quickly.
Our neighbor next door, age 100, was scheduled to be treated surgically for his enlarged prostate. He was terrified as he had been through the ordeal once before. I gave him a bottle of saw palmetto. In less than a week he told me he no longer got up at night to urinate. A week or so after he visited his doctor who said his prostate was no longer enlarged and he no longer needed surgery. I asked if he told his doctor about the saw palmetto. He said he had not, because he was afraid he would get a lecture on his ignorance. That is unfortunately the fear of many who resort to alternative medicine.
Posted by: allmymarbles | January 28, 2012 10:18 AM