You are here: Q&A->
Page 57->Saw Palmetto for prevention
Saw Palmetto for prevention
I am a 71-year-old male and I have been taking Saw Palmetto for about a year. I am trying to prevent any future problems with my waterworks but I am not sure if I am running the risk of adverse side-effects by taking it solely for prevention.
Doctors warn that all men, if they live long enough, will develop some kind of problem with the prostate gland and that while it may not be the condition that eventually kills you, by the age of 80, prostate problems affect some 80% of men.
This means, of course, that by taking this herb - which has been shown, time and again in clinical trials to help prevent many of these problems - you are being very sensible. In fact, I would hold you up as an excellent role model to all men over the age of 40 who would similarly benefit from adopting the same “prevention-is-better-than-cure” approach to their health, instead of waiting until something goes wrong.
Nobody has yet managed to pinpoint the precise action of saw palmetto, but the active ingredient, which has an anti-inflammatory action, also appears to stop a particularly damaging form of testosterone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT) from binding to hormone receptor sites in the prostate gland.
The trouble with clinical trials though, is that few last for longer than three or six months which means nobody, to date, can tell you what the long term effects of taking a herb like this will be. There are adverse reactions if the dosage is too high and these include abdominal pain, back pain, constipation, diarrhoea, headaches, high blood pressure and decreased libido - so if you do suffer from any of these, consult a qualified health practitioner to adjust your dosage.
One thing you should do, if you are going to take this herb in the long term, is ask your doctor to test your PSA (prostate-specific antigen) levels. This can be done with a simple blood test and is now a routine health check for men over 40 in America. It gives an indication of a man’s risk of developing prostate cancer and the reason you need to monitor it, if you do take saw palmetto, is because there is some suggestion the herb can produce false-negative PSA readings. In other words, it may mask the development of a prostate cancer condition.