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Active Saw Palmetto Ingredients
The standardized saw palmetto extract is prepared from ripe berries of
saw palmetto, an American dwarf palm tree, by a multistep hexane extraction procedure and is highly concentrated.
The standard 320 mg daily dose of saw palmetto is equivalent to 20 g of berries.
The extraction procedure serves to preserve the active ingredients and meanwhile to get rid of
other useless and even harmful ingredients. The standardized saw palmetto extract contains two fractions of active components,
fatty acids and sterols, which constitute about 85% and 0.2% of the extract respectively.
The relative contribution of each individual active ingredient to the action of the standardized saw palmetto
extract as a whole is not yet clear.
As fatty acids and sterols are extracted in oily preparations and typically remain liquid,
the saw palmetto extract is most commonly packed in softgels. The fatty acids and sterols of
the saw palmetto extract in softgels more likely remain in natural and active forms and are the choice of
most clinical trials.
It should be noted that saw palmetto extract is often not sold in the standardized form. In such cases,
the extract is not standardized to 85% fatty acids/sterols and is not at the typical size of 80 or 160 mg.
Such non-standardized saw palmetto extracts should be avoided because they are not tested in trials.
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