A Study of the Physical and Chemical Properties of Saw Palmetto Berry Extract

Saw palmetto berry extract has become a very popular herbal supplement in the treatment of benign prostate enlargement, or BPE. This paper reports a study of the physical and chemical properties of crude berry extract obtained by crushing the berries, and then isolating the liposterolic oily extract with iso-hexane (an alternative method used in industry is supercritical fluid extraction with CO which has shown to give a higher lauric acid content, and a correspondingly lower iodine value). The major phytosterols identified in the extract were the following: cholesterol, campesterol, stigmasterol, B-sitosterol, delta5-avenasterol, delta7-stigmasterol, and delta7-avenasterol with B-sitosterol being the major sterol at an average of 59.4 % of the total sterols. The average total sterol content found was 1864 mg/kg. The fatty acid distributions of the extract were found to contain both the shorter chain acids such as caprylic, capric, and lauric, and longer chain acids such as palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic. The lauric acid content is the most abundant among the short chains at an average level of 17.6 % of the total acids while oleic was found to be of the highest content overall at an average of 49.1 % of the total acids. Other physical and chemical parameters such as total fatty acids, free fatty acids, peroxide value, iodine value, saponification value, etc., were also collected and reported to further characterize saw palmetto extract. A study of other phytochemicals such as carotenes, chlorophyll, and xanthophylls were also analyzed for and reported along with a GC mass selective detector analysis of the extract's unsaponifiables which identified terpenes, and various complex and long chain alcohols such as phytol and 1-eicosanol. Interesting properties are noted concerning saw palmetto extract such as the absence of tocopherols, and the fact that the extract can is naturally comprised of up to 90 % free fatty acids.