According to a US study, an herbal supplement (palmetto) that is widely sold in the United States and Europe to relieve urinary symptoms in men with an enlarged prostate has no benefit over a placebo.
“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.
From news.yahoo.com:
“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.
“None of them showed any effect whatsoever in contrast to placebo,” Dr. Roehrborn said. “These supplements cost about $30 or more a month, and they obviously don’t help.”
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