I know of 2 types of saw palmetto that I can get at the drug store. The liquid (gel?) capsule, and the dry version.

Which one is better? Does it matter?

Hi shaz

There is no documented truth this regrows hair or stop loss. I wouldn't waste my money

Hey Shaz,

If you have lost lots of hair, it's pretty much useless. It's only effective on people who have hardly lost any or have only just started to lose it.

I TRIED THE STUFF FOR ALITTLE WHILE IT DIDDN'T DO ANYTHING. NOT WORTH THE TROUBLE. IT CAN HAVE SIDE EFFECTS AS WELL

Ditto here.. It's a waste

There's Alphastat, a astaxanthin/ saw palmetto blend "that has been shown in in-vitro studies to provide potent cellular-level protection for prostate tissues by inhibiting the activity of an enzyme known as 5-alpha reductase. This powerful combination delivers unprecedented protection for prostate tissues - far more than could ever be achieved with regular saw palmetto extracts. In fact, Alphastat has been shown in studies to exhibit 20% greater 5-alpha reductase inhibition than saw palmetto alone"

As someone else mentioned..side effects can occur with something like this just as they do with drugs.

saw palmetto has been used for years in europe and asia for prostrate health, that is where the correlation is due to the propecia link with prostrate.
there is not evidence proving or disproving it affects DHT because there is no money in it for a company to pour $$$ into researching a product that they will never be able to patent and sell due to it being a herb that anyone can buy and or grow themselves. will we ever know if it works, probably not. but if it helps, what is the harm in taking it unless it gives you really bad gas and the $hits like it did me

HT

there is not one study which proves it regrows hair or stops hairloss. Talk to any top doctor on here ( or vet). You are wasting your money but feel free. You will just have expensive pee.

More information about Saw Palmetto and other commonly asked about herbal treatments and hair loss drugs can be found on the following thread.

I will continue to update this thread with other treatments as I have time to do additional research.

Falc

There is new data that saw palmetto does not have a significant effect on the prostate and therefore not likely to be beneficial to hair as well.
See below:

Ricardo MEjia MD
Jupiter FL
561-748-0510

1: Curr Urol Rep. 2006 Jul;7(4):260-5.Links
Saw palmetto and lower urinary tract symptoms: what is the latest evidence?Avins AL, Bent S.
Northern California Kaiser-Permanente Division of Research, 2000 Broadway, 3rd Floor, Oakland, CA 94612, USA. avins@itsa.ucsf.edu

The use of dietary supplements for treating a wide range of health conditions has grown rapidly in the United States. In the field of men's health, the most common dietary supplement used is an extract of the berry of the saw palmetto plant, with which men commonly self-medicate in order to treat lower urinary tract symptoms. Throughout the past two decades, substantial literature has emerged examining the biologic and clinical effects of saw palmetto extracts. Several lines of evidence suggest that saw palmetto may exert physiologic effects consistent with a beneficial clinical effect on the mechanisms of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Although most clinical studies tend to suggest a modest efficacy benefit of saw palmetto, more recent studies are less consistent and the precise clinical value of saw palmetto for treating lower urinary tract symptoms remains undefined. Overall, there appear to be few safety concerns with short-term use of this herbal medicine, although large-scale and longer-term safety studies have not been performed. Higher-quality studies are currently underway to better define the potential benefits and risks of plant-based extracts for treating symptoms related to benign prostatic hyperplasia.

PMID: 16930496 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Dr. Mejia,

Great information. Thanks for posting it!

Falc

I took Saw Palmetto once for a month. The stuff is way cheap, and you can get it (and other affordable supplements) at Trader Joe's for like 9 dollars. Anyway, I didn't notice any real side effects aside from shedding some hair! I stopped taking it after a month, because it freaked me out, losing that much hair. It was enough hair to put me "over the edge" I was teetering on for so long. By that I mean, I have a very good amount of hair on my head, but it's definitely thinning, and my hairline has receded a bit. I also have some thinning at the crown, but for years, everything was about the same thickness, though receding. Now, I'm getting that "skirted egg" thing going on a little bit, where the sides are thicker than the top, and it just looks bad.

Good thing I look good bald! But I do want the *option* of having my old hair back. Besides, losing hair, while natural, seems a little *unnatural*, IMO, and just reeks of me doing something wrong with my life. I plan on tackling this issue.

yeah, I realize that a lot of herbs are not up to par or dont do what they say they do, but a lot of them do. you are forgetting that a lot of drugs come from plants and herbs, and many are synthetic of course nowadays as we have the means to create them and manipulate them easier than ever before.
there isn't a doctor on the planet (unless he or she is a herbal doctor) that will prescribe a herb. why? if you have to ask that, you should do some research on your own. And nothing agains Dr. Mejia, but honestly you and i both know even if there was a study that proved without doubt that saw palmetto works, you still would not prescribe it. Brand name drugs provide better revenue to pharma companies, and it pays to maintain good relationships between pharma companies and doctors who prescribe the drugs.

Its been proven that vit D fights cancer by researchers all over the world, for years actually.
Ever hear of a doctor prescribing Vitamin D to anybody? Its a known fact that health organizations lead by doctors rallied to have Vit D supplements made available only by presecription. In other words, they wanted pharma companies to take it on as a prescribed drug only. Why would that be?
The chinese and others have been using herbs etc for hundreds of years for healing, with good results, and they live longer than anyone...maybe due to genetics?.
Just positive thinking alone and the power of the mind have been known to make huge positive affects in various illnesses.
Broccoli has been proven to contain chemicals that actually prevent and fight cancer as good as or better than many new 'state of the art drugs'. have you checked the price of brocoli lately? You can get a grocery cart full for less than the cost of a few starbucks lattes.
I am no new age, tree hugging, pot smoking herbavore, but good grief, just because there is no proof that something does not work, does not mean it doesn't. There are studies that show that nizoral has the same affect at Rogaine. yet there are doctors and 'professionals' that say this is bunk. why? just look on the shelf, nizoral 2% costs me $9 canadian for a large bottle. Rogaine is quite a bit more, and a lot more difficult to deal with.
I suppose everyone who thinks herbs are complete bunk also think that the american cancer society are there to help cure cancer. Try reading the well respected book 'cancer gate'. Its all about money and politics.
There is more money in meds than herbs, and there is more money in treatment, than cures....and that is a fact.
I appreciate the opinion of professionals, but after having my sister released from a large reputable hospital because a 'top doctor' determined there was nothing wrong with her (she had a broken pelvis and had to be carried in and out), I realized that professional health workers do not necessarily know everything.

quote:

Originally posted by Chester C.:
I took Saw Palmetto once for a month. The stuff is way cheap, and you can get it (and other affordable supplements) at Trader Joe's for like 9 dollars. Anyway, I didn't notice any real side effects aside from shedding some hair! I stopped taking it after a month, because it freaked me out, losing that much hair. It was enough hair to put me "over the edge" I was teetering on for so long. By that I mean, I have a very good amount of hair on my head, but it's definitely thinning, and my hairline has receded a bit. I also have some thinning at the crown, but for years, everything was about the same thickness, though receding. Now, I'm getting that "skirted egg" thing going on a little bit, where the sides are thicker than the top, and it just looks bad.

Good thing I look good bald! But I do want the *option* of having my old hair back. Besides, losing hair, while natural, seems a little *unnatural*, IMO, and just reeks of me doing something wrong with my life. I plan on tackling this issue.

Yes! I went through the same thing. Shedding with Saw Palmetto and the bad part is the hair never grew back. I took it for 1-2 months and my hairline just retreated so fast I freaked quite often. For years prior to that I was on and off Rogaine and of course I did shed with it but it always grew back.

I just posted a review of my experiences taking saw palmetto in this forum. You might find it interesting to read.