Clinical testing has now begun to catch up with saw palmetto's popularity. Results show that early 20th-century physicians were onto something when they used infusions and potions made from the fruit of the southeastern U.S. palm plant for male genital and urinary problems. The berry was included as a medicine for prostate problems in the first half of the 20th century, dropped by the 1950s, and reinstated just this year. The report also found that the herbal remedy has no significant side effects and only rarely causes mild stomach upset or diarrhea. But unlike modern pharmaceuticals, made with chemicals in a lab, plant-based medicines are notoriously difficult to standardize.
Individual plants can vary greatly in their content of key active chemicals.
And consumers have virtually no protection against inaccurate labeling or substandard preparation, because of a lack of meaningful government regulation of herbal products. For that reason, Consumers Union is expanding its herbal-testing program. Over the next few years, working with outside labs that specialize in testing herbal products, we will test representative brands of herbal remedies that are performing well in clinical trials. Our ingredient testing will follow our usual standards, which include anonymous shopping at a variety of retail outlets and, for many products, the testing of several samples of each brand, obtained from different parts of the country. A pressing problem Located at the base of the bladder, the prostate gland produces most of the fluid in semen.