Hi american eskimo,
You may have read an article linking saw palmetto to male breast
cancer, but a thorough search of trusted and reliable medical and
research sites turned up nothing.
Other than annoying nausea, dizziness and headaches, it appears that
saw palmetto is fairly safe. You'll notice that the sites I have
included are not supplement or vitamin selling sites. These sites
often present "information" in a manner intended to increase sales,
and your health is not of much concern.
When I found no information on medical and research sites, I did turn
to the supplement sites, in hopes of finding one link to cancer and
saw palmetto. But none was to be found.
Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) has not yet been evaluated by the FDA
for its safety, efficacy or purity. This means that advantages as well
as side effects or risks may not be known. Because the manufacture of
supplements such as saw palmetto are not regulated, tablets
contaminated with toxic metals, or other drugs have been reported.
There may be risks for people who have plant allergies as well.
Additionally, people taking hormones, including testosterone and
estrogen should abstain from taking saw palmetto. Purchase any
supplements from a reliable source to minimize contamination risk.
??reported side effects are minor and rare. No data on its long-term
usage are available.?
American Academy of Family Physicians
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20030315/1281.html
ConsumerLab.com tested 14 saw palmetto products and found 1/3 of them
did not meet CL?s standards.
http://www.rssl-pharma.com/nat-e-news/shownewsletter.asp?ID=143#1802
However, I was unable to find a single article implicating saw
palmetto as a cause of cancer. Generally, I disregard so called
?studies? by sites that sell supplements/vitamins.
After scouring reliable medical sites, I began to look at sites that
sell supplements, and still found nothing linking saw palmetto to
cancer. It is very difficult to prove a negative answer-I found no
sources saying that saw palmetto does NOT cause cancer, nor could I
find even one source stating that it does.
I searched through SPORES, from the National Cancer Institute
http://spores.nci.nih.gov/current/breast/breast.html
and
The Cancer Research Portfolio, also from NCI, and found no articles
pertaining to saw palmetto and cancer.
http://researchportfolio.cancer.gov/cgi-bin/countbyterm.pl?Term=7
No cancer was found in lab animals who consumed a large amount of saw
palmetto : ?One study found no mutagenic or teratogenic effects in
rats and dogs that were fed saw palmetto in a dosage of 2 g per kg
daily for six months, and this dosage was well tolerated. No
clinically relevant changes in laboratory parameters have been found
in human clinical trials.?
American Academy of Family Physicains
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20030315/1281.html
However, according to this University of Arizona Pharmacy site, people
who already have breast cancer should not take saw palmetto.
http://www.pharmacy.arizona.edu/centers/apdic/sawpalmetto.shtml
In a report released by the National Academies' Institute of Medicine,
found on this Nature.com site:
?The committee evaluated the available evidence for six common
supplements to see how they might fare under these rules. They report
that melatonin and chromium picolinate appear to be generally safe,
while raising concerns that chaparral, glucosamine and saw palmetto
may cause adverse effects in some particular users?
http://www.nature.com/nsu/040329/040329-17.html
Whole Health MD site says ?Rarely, male breasts become enlarged? But
enlargement does not mean cancer, or that enlarged male breasts become
cancerous.
http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshelf/substances_view/1,1525,819,00.html
Arnaldo F. Trabucco, M.D, Department of Surgery, Division of Urology
Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn & Queens, St. Johns Hospital
Elmhurst, NY, warns men to have a baseline PSA drawn before starting
Saw Palmetto supplements. According to Dr. Trabucco, saw palmetto can
interfere with PSA levels, and decrease the chance of early prostate
cancer detection. He does not promote not deter people from using saw
palmetto, but wants patients to be tested for prostate cancer, before
the saw palmetto has a chance to lower a potentially high PSA, thus
altering results.
http://www.priory.com/med/saw.htm
?What's terrible is the lack of real scientific information based on
well-designed clinical trials of saw palmetto. But clinical trials are
enormously expensive and not likely to be conducted for a product that
cannot be patented. Meanwhile, supplement manufacturers can market saw
palmetto without any further proof of efficacy.?
Berkeley Wellness
http://www.berkeleywellness.com/html/ds/dsSawPalmetto.php
Known side effects of saw palmetto include:
·Constipation
·Diarrhea
·Dizziness
·Headache
·Nausea
·Upset stomach
?Because it has hormonal activity, saw palmetto may interfere with the
effectiveness of oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy.?
Drug Digest
http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/DVH/HerbsSideEffects/0,3925,4066|Saw%2BPalmetto,00.html
This abstract from PubMed, by Pytel YA , Vinarov A , Lopatkin N ,
Sivkov A , Gorilovsky L , Raynaud JP , of a study last year of 155
men, found saw palmetto as an effective therapy for benign prostatic
hypertrophy, with no untoward effects, especially cancer of any kind.
adhttp://www4.infotrieve.com/newmedline/detail.asp?NameID=12665050&Session=&searchQuery=saw+palmetto+side+effects&count=22
Another PubMed abstract of a study, Ernst, E ,Ann Intern Med, 136(1):
42-53 2002 reports no serious side effects and no mention of cancer.
http://www4.infotrieve.com/newmedline/detail.asp?NameID=11777363&Session=&searchQuery=saw+palmetto+side+effects&count=22
One woman became sensitized to saw palmetto while taking Minoxidil for
hair loss. PubMed abstract, Sinclair RD , Mallari RS , Tate B
http://www4.infotrieve.com/newmedline/detail.asp?NameID=12423443&Session=&searchQuery=saw+palmetto+side+effects&count=22
?Saw palmetto should not be taken with drugs that affect the levels
of male sex hormones (androgens), such as finasteride (Proscar) or
flutamide (Eulexin). In theory, saw palmetto may interfere with birth
control pills or hormone replacement therapy in women. There is one
report of bleeding in a person using saw palmetto, and caution should
be taken by people using drugs that may increase the risk of bleeding.
The combination herbal product PC-SPES, which includes saw palmetto,
also contains warfarin, an anticoagulant. There is a serious risk of
bleeding if you use PC-SPES with other drugs that increase the risk of
bleeding. Examples include warfarin (Coumadin), heparin and
clopidogrel (Plavix). Some pain relievers may also increase the risk
of bleeding, such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) and naproxen
(Naprosyn, Aleve, Anaprox).?
Intelihealth
http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/8513/31402/346487.html?d=dmtContent#dangers
?Saw palmetto has reportedly been used continuously for many years
without evidence of side effects?
Yale-New Haven Health
http://yalenewhavenhealth.org/Library/HealthGuide/DrugGuide/topic.asp?hwid=multumd04415a1
Healthwell seems to think saw palmetto is perfectly safe.
http://www.healthwell.com/healthnotes.cfm?contentid=3087006&org=newhope
It seems that saw palmetto has a reputation for increasing breast size
in women. It is a false reputation however. Perhaps this is the source
of the misconception that saw palmetto can cause breast cancer. Susan
Love, MD says ?Breast enhancement products typically exploit common
misunderstandings about what herbs and "phytoestrogens" can and cannot
do. For example, the advertisements claim that since a woman's
estrogen is what naturally causes her breasts to grow, products like
soy, red clover, flaxseed, black cohosh, saw palmetto, and wild
Mexican yam will do the same.
But that is not how soy and other "phytoestrogens" work. These
products actually have an anti-estrogenic effect on the breast in
premenopausal women. (In postmenopausal women they appear to have more
of an estrogenic effect.) This means that even if these products
contained what the manufacturers claim they do (and they don't
always), they would not be able to make a woman's breasts grow.
?Although the word "phytoestrogen" is now used frequently to describe
the estrogen found in plant-based products, the term is actually a
misnomer. "Phytoestrogens" should really be called "phytoserms"
(selective estrogen receptor modulators). SERMs, like Tamoxifen, are
estrogenic in some organs and anti-estrogenic in other organs-and
that's the affect these plant-based products have as well.]
Further, and more importantly, if these products could enhance breast
size, they would actually be dangerous. This is because if they did
work, the estrogen they were exposing women to could, in fact,
increase the risk for breast cancer.?
http://www.susanlovemd.org/community/flashes/hotflash020603.htm
About male breast cancer, from the American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_2X_Do_we_know_what_causes_male_breast_cancer_28.asp?rnav=cri
Hope this helps you! If any part of my answer is unclear, please
request an Answer Clarification, before rating. By doing so, I will be
able to assist you further, if possible.
Regards,
crabcakes
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