Subject: Saw Palmetto & BPH: Active Component(s)

From: [email-masked] (Don Scott)
Date: Sat, 24 Dec 1994 03:55:21 GMT

Can anyone  tell me what the active component(s) of saw palmetto
in shrinking the prostate in Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy (BPH)?

I am interested in the physiological mechanism of action.

Thanks.

P.S. References are okay.  I will try a Medline search when I next get to 
Crerar library, but it will be months yet.
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 [email-masked] (Don Scott, P.O. Box 611, Elk Grove IL 60009-0611)
     "Maybe you have big problems, but remember, if you don't
      have big problems, the little ones look like big ones."
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

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From: [email-masked] (Jet Silverman)
Date: 28 Dec 1994 20:26:56 -0800

There is a book called "The Honest Herbal", forgot the author, but it has 
detailed info on Saw Palmetto.

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From: [email-masked] (Dale Woika)
Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 02:52:00 GMT

>Crerar library, but it will be months yet.

I assume you mean the fruit, often touted for a host of ailments.  I did a 
Medline search & came up with nearly nothing.  Folklore sources tell of its' 
use in male potency tonics & various other uses.  I'll dig deeper on that.  

A side note: if you go down south (USA, MEX, cent America) the saw palmetto (
Serenoa repens) is a very abundant "weed" tree.  If you carefully peel back 
the top leaves of some of these plants in the shrub height, the terminal bud 
or "heart" at the center of the plant (at the base of the leaves) is a very 
palatable veggie, raw or cooked.  Harvesting these edibles is fairly easy if 
you are wearing strong leather gloves & a leather jacket for protection--
needed outerwear due to the strong "sawteeth" on the leaves.  Harvesting the 
terminal bud kills the plant, but there are plenty of others around, so dont 
feel too guilty about losing a couple hundred.  (it is kind of like 
harvesting dandelions).  By the time the tree is mature, these palms tend to 
rot at the center, & seem to attract what the locals call palmetto bugs (
they look a lot like roaches to me...).

Again, there seem to be a lot of reported uses, but very little on actual 
physiological action reported.  Sorry.

DWW

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 29 Dec 1994 21:16:50 GMT

Dale Woika ([email-masked]) wrote:
: In article Don Scott writes:

: >Can anyone  tell me what the active component(s) of saw palmetto
: >in shrinking the prostate in Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy (BPH)?
: >[...]

: [...]
: A side note: if you go down south (USA, MEX, cent America) the saw
: palmetto (Serenoa repens) is a very abundant "weed" tree.
: [...]
: Harvesting the 
: terminal bud kills the plant, but there are plenty of others around, so
: dont feel too guilty about losing a couple hundred.  (it is kind of like 
: harvesting dandelions).
: [...]

I am new to this group, and truly I do not want to offend
the good people here by coming on too strong; however, I
must object to this opinion. The haphazard and unmanaged
harvesting of plants from the wild is NEVER good advice!
As an example of the resulting destruction from this kind
of practice, the wild agave population in the Sonoran Desert
has been literally decimated by indiscriminate harvesting
for the production of bootleg mescal. Consequently, this
area has experienced a gradual disappearance of the bats
which feed off its nectar and who, in turn, are at *least*
partially responsible for controlling the (disease-carrying,
for example) insect population.

To be fair, I AM generalizing about harvesting indigenous
species and I have NOT checked my references for the species
Serenoa repens. But to dismiss a species as a " 'weed' tree"
simply because it is abundant, and then to suggest that, for
this reason, it is okay to destroy "a couple houndred" is the
most negligent kind of mentality.

As a professional, I must add that even harvesting non-native,
weedy species can actually spread the pesky population. Does
this mean one should not mow their lawn, or pick a dandelion
head and blow it into the wind? Certainly not, some pleasures
are not to be missed.

I promise to check the literature when I can.

Jan Dillon
Arizona State University, School of Agribusiness
Internet: [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Dale Woika)
Date: Sat, 31 Dec 1994 03:05:21 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] writes:
>From: [email-masked]
>Subject: Re: Saw Palmetto & BPH: Active Component(s)
>Date: 29 Dec 1994 21:16:50 GMT

>Internet: [email-masked]

I am truly sorry for reposting this message, and I usually don't answer 
these comments, but I feel some clarification is in order.  

I think Ive been quite clear on my position on harvesting wild plants over 
the years, and to harvest, say, a relatively rare cacti from a fragile/
brittle environment is truly a no-no--I think this is clear.  ANY 
interference in these endangered environmental seres is usually exactly the 
wrong thing to do.  The point is, however, a reference to lawn grass is 
precisely in order here to draw a parallel.  The saw palmetto, like any 
other plant, should not be harvested from natural areas, wetlands, wild 
areas, state parks, etc. but nearly any farmer, landowner, developer, or 
residential property owner south of a line from Savanna GA to Eastern TX 
would be happy to have you volunteer to pull up their saw palmettos.  Don't 
get me wrong--they are an excellent cover and soil/sand migration barrier 
and are an integral part of the largest majority of vegetative cover types 
in Florida, and southern Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Gulf 
coastal Texas--but it IS a serious weed in fields, yards, timber plantings 
and generally everywhere it can grow.  It is one of those cases of the 
indiginous species being far better suited than the exotic, and in this 
case, more desireable species.

Most people hate 'em in the south, especially the ones who have to walk 
around through them every day.  I don't mind them as much as I once did--
especially now that I munch on them!  And yes, I do know people who refuse 
to kill the crabgrass in their yards, and even those who refuse to pull the 
weeds in their gardens; I generally pull the weeds in my gardens unless I 
happen to run across a rare plant or orchid, which has happened to me.  So 
go ahead and chow down on these weeds.  Generally, you will have no problem 
finding a ready source, and it is extremely unlikely we are going to run out 
soon.

And yes, I like to blow the dandelion seeds.  But I eat the dandelion too.

Dale 

P.S.  Don't harvest dandelion leaves if the plant has gone to seed.  By 
this time the leaves will be too bitter & tough.  Get 'em younger & you'll 
enjoy them more. 'Same applies to other lawn edibles including violets, 
plantain, sorrel, & the other leafy munchies.