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Africa
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Catalog of Herbs
Published in James A. Duke, Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, 2018
Contains volatile oil, fixed oil, glucose, circa 63% of free acids, 37% ethyl esters.2 Dry fruits contain beta-sitosterol (said to have both aphrodisiac and anticancer activity).4,10,15 On alkaline hydrolysis, the shrubs yield 61.8% p-oxybenzoic acid, 0.6% p-oxybenzaldehyde, 1.5% vanillic acid, 0.3% vanillin, 0.6% acetovanillone, 1.0% syringic acid, 0.8% syrin-galdehyde, 0.9% acetosyringone, and 1.9% ferulic acid. In the seed oil there is stearic acid and the glycerides of capric-, lauric-, myristic-, palmitic-, and oleic-acids. The fruit contains carotene, lipase, tannin, resin, circa 28.2% invert sugar, mannitol; the dried fruit contains 0.0189% beta-sitosterol and 0.022% beta-sitosterol-d-glucoside; anthranilic acid and three flavonoids. Beta-sitosterol probably lies behind the counterculture claims that saw palmetto berries will enlarge the breasts. There are relatively high concentrations of free and bound sitosterols in dry berries. Injected into immature female mice, beta-sitosterol is estrogenic. Still, the saw palmetto extract is only 1/10,000 as potent as estradiol. Pure beta-sitosterol is less than 1/10 as potent. Further, the studies injected the sitosterols, which are poorly absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract. Since beta-sitosterol is not very soluble in water, herb teas would not contain much in solution, so Tyler concludes, perhaps correctly (but his conclusion could readily be tested analytically), “a cup of saw palmetto tea contains about as much real estrogenic activity as a cup of hot water.”37 The fruit flesh contains about 1.5% palmetto oil, up to 63% free fatty acids and caproic-, caprylic-, capric-, lauric-, palmitic-, and oleic-acids, and up to 38% of their ethyl esters.33
Association between PRO 160/120 prescriptions and incidence of benign prostatic hyperplasia complications in Germany: a retrospective cohort study
Published in Postgraduate Medicine, 2023
S Madersbacher, M Rieken, K Reuber, K Kostev
Bschleipfer and Burkart summarized the evidence concerning the effects of BPH treatment on sexual function and concluded that α1-adrenoceptor antagonist can lead to reversible ejaculation disorders in up to 70% of patients, depending on the substance [14]. It is further concluded that the 5-ARIs finasteride and dutasteride have a negative effect on ejaculation, libido, and erectile function and that treatment with tamsulosin/dutasteride fixed-dose combination therapy significantly worsens sexual function in men. There is evidence that saw palmetto extract can have a favorable effect on sexual function compared to placebo, or at least that it does not worsen it [14]. In the present study, PRO 160/120 had a lower incidence of erectile dysfunction than dutasteride. Our results are in line with those of a literature review of the clinical evidence of PRO 160/120 [22]. Based on four placebo- or reference-controlled clinical trials, it was shown that PRO 160/120 is superior to placebo and comparable with finasteride and tamsulosin in terms of I-PSS total score within a follow-up period of between 24–48 weeks. Compared to finasteride, PRO 160/120 had a better safety profile with fewer reported adverse events such as erectile dysfunction, ejaculation volume, or headache and also showed a better tolerability, with a lower rate of premature withdrawals. Furthermore, another recent meta-analysis concluded that Serenoa repens (one of the compounds of PRO 160/120) had a comparable effect to that of tamsulosin in patients with BPH after at least 6 months of treatment. The meta-analysis also showed that Serenoa repens had fewer side effects, such as ejaculation disorders and decreased libido [26].