Herb ‘no aid to prostate health’

Patients, who all had enlarged prostates – were randomly assigned to take either the herbal extract or the dummy pill twice a day.

They were assessed regularly to see if there had been any change in their condition, or in urinary function.

Dr Stephen Bent, who led the research, said: “If you look at the change in symptoms over time between the two groups, it was almost identical.

“There was no statistically significant difference at any time point during the study.”

The researchers also looked at particular groups of patients, comparing those with more and less severe symptoms and those with larger and smaller prostates – but found no difference in any of the subgroups between the herbal extract and the dummy version.

Dr Bent added: “The results of this study clearly do not support a strong clinical benefit of saw palmetto.”

Yawn!

Why are we continuing to waste money on these studies?