Saw Palmetto

What Is Saw Palmetto?

A fan palm that grows in dense stands across the sandy pine flatwoods of the southeastern United States. Serenoa repens is low and sprawling, with saw-toothed leaf stalks that give it its name, and it fruits dark olive-sized berries. Those dried berries are what this capsule holds, at 1,100 mg per serving.

How It Works in the Body

The berry's character is in its fat. Nearly all of the fraction of interest is oil: free fatty acids, chiefly lauric and oleic, with myristic and palmitic behind them. Small amounts of plant sterols sit alongside, among them beta-sitosterol and campesterol. Fatty alcohols and triterpenes round the profile out. None of that dissolves in water, which is why saw palmetto is milled or pressed into oil rather than brewed as a tea.

What It Supports

• Free fatty acids: Lauric and oleic acid lead the profile, with myristic and palmitic acid behind them.
• Plant sterols: Beta-sitosterol and campesterol are present in small amounts, the sterols common to nuts and seed oils.
• The whole berry: This is dried fruit, not a concentrated lipid fraction, so its fiber, sugars and pigments come along.
• A long-used American plant: The berries were a food and a traditional botanical of Florida long before the modern supplement trade.

Who It May Suit

Men who want a single-plant capsule rather than a blend, and people who prefer dried whole fruit to a concentrated extract. The capsule is cellulose and the stearic acid comes from a vegetable source, so it suits a vegetarian or vegan diet.

Good To Know

A serving is two capsules, and what they hold is dried berry rather than a standardized lipid fraction; the two are not interchangeable by weight. Talk with your provider before use if you take an anticoagulant or antiplatelet medicine, or if you use estrogen therapy or an oral contraceptive, since saw palmetto has been reported to interact with each of these.