Popular Herbal Supplement Has No Benefit for Prostate : Study

The global market for saw palmetto extract is about $700 million a year, but a randomized trial at 11 sites in North America showed that even triple doses of the over-the-counter drug neither worked nor harmed the patients.
"Astonishingly enough, there was not any measurable effect -- either in benefits or in toxicity -- with increasing doses of the supplement in comparison to placebo," said co-author Claus Roehrborn, chairman of urology at University of Texas Southwestern.
"These supplements are apparently not doing anything measurably above and beyond what we call the placebo effect," said Roehrborn of the research in the latest edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Led by Michael Barry of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, researchers followed 379 men age 45 and older whose symptoms included difficulty emptying their bladders, weak and/or frequent urination.
As part of the randomized trial, some received saw palmetto extract -- which comes from the berries of the saw palmetto dwarf plant tree -- and others were given a sugar pill that smelled and tasted the same.
Measurements showed the drug, even when increased in dosage over 72 weeks, had no impact on urinary symptoms such as nighttime urination or incontinence, and did not improve sexual function or allow men to sleep better.