The prostate gland surrounds the urethra of your bladder and functions to keep bacteria away from your bladder. As you age, dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels can accumulate causing the prostate gland to become inflamed and swell. Symptoms of an enlarged prostate include difficulty emptying your bladder, waking during the night to urinate, urgency to urinate, and pain upon urinating. There are herbs that have been studied that can help treat symptoms of prostate enlargement and promote your overall prostate health.
African Potato
African potato is an herb associated with reducing increased urine flow and residue urine volume as stated in the PDR for Herbal Supplements. The active compound in African potato is beta-sitosterol is the active ingredient in this herb that has a positive effect on prostate health. A review of studies on www.drugs.com, shows promise of beta-sitosterol in treating mild to moderate prostate enlargement with increased urinary symptoms and flow. Beta-sitosterol has been added to foods like margarine, yogurt, and fortified foods as well as in capsules.
European Goldenrod
Goldenrod is use to help to relieve poor urine flow because of its diuretic effects. This effect is brought on by leiocarposide and phenol glycoside. Goldenrod is traditionally used for anti-inflammatory properties in treating bladder and urethra irritation as indicated on www.healthline.com. No human studies have been done to show efficacy, but animal studies show promise with treating bladder inflammation.
Pumpkin Amaroids
Pumpkin contains amaroids, which are steroid like compounds that similar to DHT. The amaroids are in the seeds and oil of pumpkins and are used for irritable bladder and prostate enlargement. No empirical studies have shown any efficacy with prostate enlargement. Medical supervision is advised when using this herb for prostate enlargement.
Saw Palmetto
Most well known herb used to promote prostate health. Saw palmetto contains sterols that inhibits testosterone conversion to DHT, your male hormone that has been linked to prostate enlargement according to the PDR for Herbal Supplements. Another benefit of taking saw palmetto is the anti-estrogen effect it has. Estrogen can promote prostate enlargement. By blocking estrogen, serenoa repens, a component of saw palmetto, can block the effects of estrogen on the prostate gland, according to the findinds of a study by Fouad Habib of the University of Edinburgh School of Medicine, reported in the journal European Urology.
Stinging Nettle
Stinging nettle is approved for the treatment of symptoms associated with stage I and II prostate cancer. The root preparations only relieve the symptoms of prostate enlargement without riding your body of the enlargement as stated in the PDR for Herbal Supplements.
