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SAW PALMETTO
Article by herbalist
Dave
Hawkins, MH, CNC
Today’s article
will be an interview with another popular herb known as saw
palmetto. This particular plant has
been in the news recently due to an article in JAMA (The
Journal of the American Medical Association 1998).
In the article it compared the herbal extract of saw
palmetto berry to a popular prescription drug (Proscar)
used to treat BPH (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia), enlarged
prostate. The results were very
promising in relation to the relief of symptoms associated
with this condition and the fact that the herb compared in
effectiveness to the drug without side effects.
This article will let you better understand this
plant and the history surrounding its use.
Let’s begin our interview:
Hawkins:
Tell us about yourself. How did you get
your name and how did you become so popular?
Saw
Palmetto (SP):
My botanical name is Serona Repens, and I grow in a
particular area of the Southeastern
United States. I am native
to the coastal areas in the regions of
Charleston, South Carolina;
Florida; and
Louisiana. I am very hardy and am
an important part of the natural habitat.
I am planted in landscaping because I am resistant
to insects, drought, and fire. Animals
like to eat my fruit which is green until ripe and then it
turns bluish to black.
Hawkins:
Can you share your history of being used medicinally and
tell us the method of how you were used in health
condition?
SP:
The native Indians in the regions mentioned above used me
as a tonic and basically as a food.
They made hats out of my leaves and used the stem to cure
hides. I am considered a true American
adaptogenic herb. An adaptogen is a
term used in herbalism to reflect the ability of a plant to
work as a biological response modifier.
It wasn’t until the early 1800s that the medical world
began to look at me a bit closer. I
have a profound effect on the genitourinary tract and am
beneficial to enlarged prostates, a condition affecting
men. The early eclectic physician Dr.
I. J. M. Goff began using me in early 1877 and shared me
with many other well-known eclectic doctors like
Felter-Lloyd and King. I am listed in
The Materia Medic And Clinical Therapeutics of 1905,
King’s American Dispensatory of 1898, and listed in
The
U.S. Pharmacopoeia from
1900-1916 and in The National Formulary 1925-1942.
As you can see, I have been used for a long period
of time.
Hawkins:
Let’s look at some of the conditions and therapeutic
applications you exhibit. How do you
accomplish all these benefits?
SP:
Let me begin with the action I take in the body.
I work as a nutritive tonic, an expectorant (clears
mucus), and I help control mucous membrane irritations.
In regard to uses, I have been shown to benefit the
following: Irritable coughs, chronic bronchial coughs,
whooping cough, acute and chronic laryngitis, asthma, and
am used as a digestive tonic improving appetite, digestion
and assimilation. I am best known for
helping the genitourinary system in both males and females
by strengthening and restoring balance.
Dr. Lloyd summarized me best by calling my actions
amphoteric (normalizer of functions and size).
I have been called “the old man’s friend” due to the
fact that I help relieve the unpleasant symptoms of
enlarged prostate.
Hawkins:
Tell us now about your biochemical make-up and how you are
being used medicinally?
SP:
This will be a bit complicated, but I will try to keep it
simple. I am made of numerous chemical
compounds. My most active are called
liposterols which are basically a fat.
I will discuss this further in a few moments.
I also contain polysaccharides (sugars), and a long
chain alcohol called polyprenols.
Exciting, isn’t it? Now let’s get down
to what counts -- How I work in the body.
First, even though there is a huge amount of
research, science cannot explain exactly how I work.
One theory that seems to hold promise is that in the
normal process of the prostate, the hormone testosterone is
converted into a more potent form of testosterone called
DHT (dihyrotestosterone), which stimulates the growth of
prostatic tissue. This is done with an
enzyme, and it is believed that in a case of enlargement of
the prostate, that there is an enzyme defect which leads to
an over-conversion ratio of DHT. The
sterolic fatty acids within my berries have been shown to
be effective in the reduction of the conversion enzyme,
thus reducing the size. But science
again is not clear as to how this is being done.
Much more research needs to be done.
Hawkins:
Share with us some of the dosage recommendations and is
there any cause for concern about toxicity?
SP:
First, there are many ways to use my berries.
Traditionally teas were used and then followed by
alcohol extracts called tinctures. The
capsules of ground berries are available and, of course,
now the standardized extract. Just to
make this clear, all forms work.
Standardization does not always increase effectiveness.
Many times science does not know what constituents
to standardize or the level of therapeutic dosages.
The question becomes -- If the plant has worked for
hundreds of years in its whole form, does it need to be
standardized? According to the German
E Commission, dosage recommendations are as follows:
Daily 1-2 grams of ground berries, or 1-2 mils t.i.d.
Tincture, or 320 mg total of the standardized extract.
Contraindications are
unknown and side effects are rare, but I can cause stomach
upset. There are no known drug
interactions.
Hawkins:
I have been reading that you work well with a few other
herbal friends. Can you tell us about
them?
SP:
There is a lot of research being done with a combination
formula with the following herbs: Stinging nettle (urtica
dioica)--the root part, pygeum (pygeum africanum), willow
bark (salix alba), and goldenrod (solidago virgaurea).
These friends work similarly by
reducing inflammation, swelling, increasing urine flow and
increasing blood flow. You can find
this information in a book written by Christopher Hobbs,
Saw Palmetto--The Herb For Prostate Health.
Of course, it is important to seek professional
assistance when considering this type of therapy.
There are many lifestyle changes that can be of help
with a proper nutritional and herbal protocol.
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