# Saw Palmetto and prostate health **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 12, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783 "2012-12-12T02:00:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/22 "2012-12-22T16:24:56Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > With all due respect, you reply is over the top. Everything has ingredients. Not sure what “memory of ingredients” is. Care to explain? My reply is perfectly fine pertaining to homeopathy. Feel free to read up on that topic in that handy link to the Wiki article on it (thanks for tending to the garden, **voltaire**!) Homeopathic liquids generally contain water and contaminants. Same as most other water. Homeopathic solids generally contain whatever inert materials they can get away with selling to the public sans labelling info. Homeopathy is based on pseudoscience. Period. Their claims that water has a ‘memory’ of substances that used to be in it is bogus. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/23 "2012-12-22T16:33:43Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > My reply is perfectly fine pertaining to homeopathy. Feel free to read up on that topic in that handy link to the Wiki article on it (thanks for tending to the garden, **voltaire**!) > > Homeopathic liquids generally contain water and contaminants. Same as most other water. > > Homeopathic solids generally contain whatever inert materials they can get away with selling to the public sans labelling info. > > Homeopathy is based on pseudoscience. Period. Their claims that water has a ‘memory’ of substances that used to be in it is bogus. The less of the ingredient within the solution, the more powerful it becomes! ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/24 "2012-12-22T18:01:23Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > The less of the ingredient within the solution, the more powerful it becomes! It follows that the less you take, the more effective the medicine is. Don’t take any and you’ll be perfectly healthy. Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/25 "2012-12-23T03:04:48Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > Careful folks, we’re moving from a discussion of the facts, to a debate on the merits of herbal remedies for prostate issues. If ya want to continue the debate, create a thread over in the GD forum. Yeah, but who the hell are you? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/27 "2013-06-06T13:14:28Z")
The NIH says: [http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/971.html](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/971.html) > [@](#): > > Possibly ineffective for… > Enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia; BPH). There is conflicting and contradictory research about the benefits of saw palmetto for prostate symptoms. Some research has shown that saw palmetto might modestly improve symptoms such as going to the bathroom at night in some men. But higher quality and more reliable research seems to indicate that saw palmetto has little or no benefit for reducing these symptoms. Any benefit is modest at best. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/28 "2013-06-06T13:15:40Z")
> [@jeffrey.eadie](#): > > spam deleted > [@peteevans321](#): > > spam deleted Welcome first time posters. Thanks for your unqualified endorsement of this fine product. 😉 Why yes, I’m am using more than one meaning for “unqualified”. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/29 "2013-06-06T13:18:18Z")
> [@peteevans321](#): > > spam deleted Never underestimate the gullibility of the public or the power of the placebo effect. Snake oil has been sold for centuries under different names. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/30 "2013-06-06T13:40:02Z")
> [@peteevans321](#): > > spam deleted First, nobody said tha all natural options are fake. We do say that homeopathic remedies are fake. There’s a huge difference between the two. There are plenty of natural medicines that work. For example, I have acid reflux, and one of the treatments is licorice. It works! Of course, anyone who takes a lot of licorice has to take de-glicerizinated licorice (DGL) to avoid harmful side effects. I’m sure there are plenty of other effective natural medicines. “Homeopathic” doesn’t mean “natural”. I suggest you check out the wikipedia article. But put very simply, “classic” homeopathic theory rests on these two precepts: 1. To treat a disease, find something that causes the same symptom and use that as medicine. (This contrasts with “allopathic”, where we find something that reduces the symptoms.) 2. Once you’ve introduced the remedy to the solvent (or whatever), the more you dilute it, the better it works. (You have to dilute it using special methods.) The most expensive and allegedly best medicines are those that have been diluted so much that the odds are good that there’s not a single molecule of the remedy remaining. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/31 "2013-06-06T16:46:45Z")
Two spam posts deleted as well as quotes of the posts. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/32 "2013-06-06T17:29:34Z")
Eating a pound of spam per day cured my mother of liver failure. I didn’t believe it either until I saw it! ---
**Author:** ![nickak2003](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea666f/32.png) [@nickak2003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nickak2003)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/33 "2013-06-07T09:01:01Z")
Saw palmetto is not a placebo. I used to be into PE and used to take a lot of saw palmetto - and it made me have giant, giant loads. My friends also saw a significant increase in volume. It does something to the prostate and reproductive tract, what, I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did actually increase prostate health. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/34 "2013-06-07T09:18:22Z")
I’m guessing I don’t wanna know what PE is. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/35 "2013-06-07T12:16:07Z")
> [@nickak2003](#): > > Saw palmetto is not a placebo. So far the science indicates Saw Palmetto works about as well as a placebo, though. But thanks for testifying, and I mean that in the original sense of the word! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/36 "2013-06-07T17:21:41Z")
In my experience, the powdered form is nearly worthless while the liquid gel-cap extract form is gold. Very good anti-inflammatory all around. I wonder if the “it’s a placebo” studies took this into account. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783/37 "2013-06-07T19:21:48Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > I’m guessing I don’t wanna know what PE is. Pterodactyl enchiladas. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-palmetto-and-prostate-health/643783.md?page=1)