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What is saw palmetto?

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This fruit extract may help reduce the signs of a swollen prostate.

Saw palmetto is a plant from the palm tree family called Serenoa repens or Sabal serrulata. It is used in herbal medicine. Naturopaths and people who use alternative medicine say that saw palmetto can treat a lot of different health problems. Saw palmetto is most often used to treat an enlarged prostate, but it can also be used to treat infections, stress, and even hair loss.

 

This article examines some of the ailments that saw palmetto is supposed to cure, as well as the evidence that supports the claims. It also tells you how to use saw palmetto safely and talks about the risks and side effects of this popular herbal supplement  .

 

What's Saw Palmetto Used For?

Saw palmetto is said to help treat asthma, colds, coughs, hair loss, migraines, chronic pelvic pain, and sore throats in alternative medicine. Saw palmetto is also thought to help reduce stress and boost libido (sex drive).

 

Saw palmetto is most likely best known for being used to treat problems with the prostate. This includes benign prostatic hyperplasia (an enlarged prostate) and prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate). There isn't much evidence from scientific studies to back up these claims.

 

An enlarged prostate

 

Saw palmetto is often used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), which is another name for an enlarged prostate. BPH is not a serious health problem, but it can cause big problems, like having to go to the bathroom more often and leaking urine. It can also make you more likely to get an infection in your urinary tract.

 

Several small studies have shown that people with BPH might benefit from taking saw palmetto. But in 2012, a report in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews said that

 

there wasn't much evidence that saw palmetto could help reduce inflammation in the prostate or ease the symptoms of BPH. 1

 

The Cochrane researchers looked at 32 studies that had already been published and involved 5,666 people. They found that saw palmetto did not improve the flow of urine or the size of the prostate in men with urinary tract symptoms caused by BPH.

 

Not every study has come to the same conclusion. In 2020, the American Journal of Men's Health published a review of four studies that looked at 1,080 men with BPH. The review found that taking saw palmetto every day for six months seemed to improve the flow of urine (although there was no actual change in prostate size).

 

Even though the results were good, the researchers found that saw palmetto supplements were not as effective as the BPH drug Flomax (tamsulosin).

 

Hair Loss

Studies in the lab have shown that saw palmetto can stop an enzyme called 5-alpha- reductase from doing its job of turning testosterone into a hormone called dihydrotestosterone. Androgenic alopecia, which is more commonly known as male-pattern hair loss, seems to be caused in part by dihydrotestosterone Ginkgo Biloba .

 

Even though there isn't much research on it right now, there are some signs that it may help treat this type of hair loss.

 

In a 2002 pilot study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, a group of men with mild to moderate male-pattern hair loss responded “highly positively” to saw palmetto and beta-sitosterol. The study said that the results were because saw palmetto stopped 5-alpha reductase from working.

 

A 2020 review of studies in Skin and Appendage Disorders came to the same conclusion, but it said that the conclusions were limited by the lack of good studies.

 

Pain that doesn't go away

Saw palmetto may help people with chronic pelvic pain syndrome, according to new research (CPPS). CPPS is pain below the belly button and between the hips that has been going on for at least six months and often has no known cause.

 

In 2010, a small study published in Urologia Internationalis found that saw palmetto helped relieve the symptoms of CPPS when it was taken with a supplement that contained selenium and lycopene. It is not clear which of the supplements caused the effect, so more research needs to be done.

 

Recap

Saw palmetto is said to help with a wide range of different health problems, such as an enlarged prostate, hair loss in men, and chronic pelvic pain. Most of the time, there isn't much evidence to back up these claims.

 

Possible Side Effects

Saw palmetto is usually well tolerated, but it can make some people sick, especially if they use it too much.

These things are:

 

Stinky breath Constipation Diarrhea Dizziness Fatigue Headache

Feeling sick or puking Stomach upset

 

Saw palmetto might be able to change the levels of sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone. People with cancers that are sensitive to hormones, like breast cancer and prostate cancer, should talk to their oncologist before using saw palmetto.

 

Some men who took saw palmetto also had problems with getting an erection, sore breasts, enlarged breasts, and a loss of libido (sex drive).

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