| Saw
Palmetto grows exclusively in Florida, in the southeast of
the USA. Sabal serrulata, which is the Latin name
for American Saw Palm, is found to the north of the Everglades,
where the climate is hot and dry.
‘Proud princes
on distant shores’ was how the great botanist Carl von
Linne once described tall, majestic palms, of which there
are approximately 3000 types worldwide. However the American
Saw Palms cannot really be described in these terms as they
seldom reach more than one metre, although the plant can occasionally
grow into an impenetrable bush several metres in height.
Alfred Vogel discovered
the Saw Palm during his exploration of the Americas in the
1950s and learned that the Native Americans in Florida, the
Seminole, had used the fruit of saw palmetto for hundreds
of years for many conditions such as the onset of prostate
enlargement and bladder infections.
This dwarf palm
grows in dense pine forests, tropical heat and sandy soil
being its favourite territory. With its gleaming fresh green
fan-shaped leaves and dark red fruit it possesses something
which none of its nobler relations can boast - a fruit which
can relieve prostate problems.
As men get older, enlargement of the prostate, or Benign Prostatic
Hypertrophy (BPH) as it is known medically, commonly occurs.
BPH causes a disruption to the flow of urine resulting in
frequent urination, particularly at night, poor or painful
urine flow and dribbling.
Problems caused
by enlargement of the prostate are very common and are increasingly
prevalent in men over 50. Once malignancy has been ruled out,
the Saw Palmetto fruit, in tincture or tablet form, provides
an effective natural remedy. The dark red fruit contains a
volatile oil which is one of its main active ingredients.
Hormonal changes
are believed to be a major factor in causing enlargement of
the prostate. The changes lead to an increase in di-hydrotestosterone
(DHT) which increases the number of cells in the prostate
gland, resulting in its enlargement and associated problems.
Saw Palmetto inhibits
the hormone metabolism which leads to BPH and has anti-inflammatory
properties. There have been several European trials looking
at its effectiveness. It has been found to be at least as
effective as orthodox drug treatments in inhibiting the formation
of DHT. A German study of 1334 patients, published in Fortschritte
de Therapie, 1993, found that Saw Palmetto was effective
in over 80% of cases.
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