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Review

Saw Palmetto

No authors listed
In: LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; 2012.
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Review

Saw Palmetto

No authors listed.
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Excerpt

Saw palmetto is a popular herbal medication and extract derived from the fruit of the low growing, small palm, Serenoa repens, which has fan shaped leaves and is native to Florida and the Southeast United States. Currently, saw palmetto is used mostly for symptoms of benign prostatic hypertrophy. Saw palmetto has been implicated in rare cases of clinically apparent liver injury, but its specific role in causing liver injury remains uncertain.

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References

    1. Zimmerman HJ. Unconventional drugs. Miscellaneous drugs and diagnostic chemicals. In, Zimmerman, HJ. Hepatotoxicity: the adverse effects of drugs and other chemicals on the liver. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1999: pp. 731-4.(Expert review of hepatotoxicity published in 1999; saw palmetto is not discussed).
    1. Seeff L, Stickel F, Navarro VJ. Hepatotoxicity of herbals and dietary supplements. In, Kaplowitz N, DeLeve LD, eds. Drug-induced liver disease. 3rd ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2013, pp. 631-58.(Review of hepatotoxicity of herbal and dietary supplements [HDS]; saw palmetto is listed as nonhepatotoxic).
    1. Saw palmetto. In, PDR for Herbal Medicines. 4th ed. Montvale, New Jersey: Thomson Healthcare Inc. 2007: pp. 725-9.(Compilation of short monographs on herbal medications and dietary supplements).
    1. Hamid S, Rojter S, Vierling J. Protracted cholestatic hepatitis after the use of Prostata. Ann Intern Med. 1997;127:169–70. [ (65 year old man developed jaundice and pruritus 2 weeks after starting an herbal preparation that contained saw palmetto [bilirubin 8.2 mg/dL, ALT 1364 U/L, Alk P 179 U/L, AMA positive, anti-HCV positive, HCV RNA negative], with resolution 3 months after stopping). ] - PubMed
    1. Wilt TJ, Ishani A, Stark G, MacDonald R, Lau J, Mulrow C. Saw palmetto extracts for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia: a systematic review. JAMA. 1998;280:1604–9. [ (A systematic review of literature on efficacy of saw palmetto for benign prostatic hypertrophy identified 18 trials involving 2939 men and found overall evidence for its efficacy in improving urinary symptoms; side effects were mild, infrequent and similar in frequency with placebo). ] - PubMed

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