If you have oily skin or acne, or both, then one of the strongest supplements you could take is saw palmetto.
This berry (serenoa repens), which grows naturally in Florida and Georgia, is proven to massively reduce the androgenic hormone DHT. Saw palmetto powder or capsules inhibit 5-alpha reductase, the enzyme which creates all DHT in the body by converting testosterone into it. One study even detected a fall of 32%.
The result for acne? Much less oily skin, since DHT is a massive cause of it. Less oily skin would equal less clogged pores, and a reduced opportunity for acne to be born. Acne around your chin, mouth, and jawline would fall particularly strongly, since high DHT correlates to acne in those areas.
Alongside green tea and sea buckthorn oil, saw palmetto is among the strongest anti-DHT remedies. That’s why today, you will discover the 10 greatest products available.
Before we go further though, remember that I do not recommend saw palmetto if you’re a man. It would slash acne excellently, particularly if you’re a weightlifter or athlete, but you need DHT, and the side effects of poor concentration, no energy and a weak sex drive wouldn’t be worth it. This supplement is excellent if you’re a woman, since you naturally need just low levels of DHT.
Let’s get started:
One – Oregon’s Wild Harvest
In fact, the only ingredient other than saw palmetto is the plant-sourced pullulan capsules. There are no chemical preservatives or magnesium stearate at all. The saw palmetto is freshly powdered and made in small batches to assure ultimate quality.
The dosage of this saw palmetto is extremely high at 1170mg. There’s 90 tablets and the recommended serving is 2 daily, giving you a 45 day supply. However, for acne and hormones, there’s little reason to take more than 600mg daily. Therefore, if you take just 1 tablet daily, you’ll take 585mg and make this already affordable product even cheaper. This is among the products listed here which are vegan, as a couple of others use animal gelatin for the capsule.
All in all, Oregon’s Wild Harvest is unbeatable for an acne-clearing saw palmetto.
Amazon link: Oregon’s Wild Harvest Saw Palmetto.
Two – Nature’s Bounty
For almost nothing, you receive 100 plus capsules containing 450mg of saw palmetto, an above average dosage and in the right league for acne. Take one tablet daily and you’ll have months of supply. There’s also a 250 pack available if you wish.
Meanwhile, the saw palmetto itself is high quality, being laboratory tested to ensure potency. The capsule is made from gelatin, and there are no other ingredients present. There are no allergens like soy, corn or wheat to be found.
There’s no magnesium stearate, an anti-adhesive found widely in herbal supplements. This chemical is used to prevent from herbs sticking to factory machinery, but can also moderately decrease nutrient absorption in the gut. The effect isn’t monstrous, but it’s substantial enough to avoid. In saw palmetto’s case, magnesium stearate could decrease the absorption of vital sterols like beta-sitosterol.
Elsewhere, Nature’s Bounty gets brilliant reviews and Nature’s Bounty is a trusted, 40 year old company. This saw palmetto is among the best.
Amazon link: Nature’s Bounty Saw Palmetto, 100 Capsules.
Three – Pure Encapsulations
Saw palmetto is rich in antioxidants, vitamins and phytonutrients, but the key players behind the DHT reduction are the fatty acids and phytosterols. One example is beta-sitosterol, also found in sea buckthorn oil, which is confirmed to inhibit 5-alpha reductase. Pure Encapsulations contains a 320mg dosage of saw palmetto, which is formulated to contain 85% fatty acids, guaranteeing that the acne-clearing benefits are in place.
Regarding the dosage, you’re instructed to take 1 tablet daily, and you receive 120 tablets for a very affordable price. The ingredients are also optimal: saw palmetto berry extract, and a gelatin capsule consisting of gelatin, glycerin and water. Magnesium stearate, preservatives, fillers, and allergens are nowhere to be found.
The advantage of Pure Encapsulations is the extreme steps the company takes to ensure purity; all raw materials tested thoroughly for heavy metals like mercury, cadmium and arsenic by a third party laboratory. They even test for over 70 types of pesticides and 30 different solvents. This is a more expensive saw palmetto, yet one which pulls out all the stops.
If your skin is dripping with oil and your acne is thriving, Pure Encapsulations is a top quality supplement.
Amazon link: Pure Encapsulations Saw Palmetto.
Four – Puritan’s pride
The dosage is slightly lower at 160mg of saw palmetto per softgel, but the vital fatty acids are standardised to 85%-95%, guaranteeing potency. According to Puritan’s Pride, this saw palmetto is inspected and tested up to 15 times to guarantee purity and potency.
Like Pure Encapsulations, Puritan’s Pride uses a gelatin capsule, with the full additives list reading “gelatin, pure olive oil, vegetable glycerin”, which are all harmless. You receive 60 capsules per jar, with a lower dosage than other brands, but the price is also extremely low.
Puritan’s Pride is a trustworthy company as well, and this saw palmetto has over 800 ratings as of April 2024. With any softgels, I’d advise you to keep them in a cool, dark place, as they can easily melt slightly and stick together when exposed to intense sunlight. As saw palmetto consists of fatty acids and phytosterols, vulnerable compounds, it’s particularly important to keep the supplement intact and free from oxidation.
Puritan’s Pride is the ideal saw palmetto supplement for a slightly lower dosage, and cheaper price.
Amazon link: Puritan’s Pride Saw Palmetto.
Five – Advanced Nutrition Labs
That’s too much, and 1 tablet daily or even 2 over 3 days is easily sufficient, but you do get excellent value for money. There’s 120 capsules, so Advanced Nutrition Labs should last for months.
The saw palmetto berries are picked during peak ripeness for maximum potency, with only the finest berries being used. The formula is split, as one section is pure saw palmetto berries, while a second section is saw palmetto standardised to contain 45% of the vital fatty acids.
This is another vegan brand, as the capsule is harmless methylcellulose. Advanced Nutrition Labs is free from magnesium stearate, soy lethicin (a common additive), fillers and preservatives. The brand gets excellent reviews, with users reporting the exact benefits you would expect from a saw palmetto.
Advanced Nutrition Labs is an expertly formulated saw palmetto supplement.
Amazon link: Advanced Nutrition Labs Saw Palmetto.
Six – Eclectic Institute
Each tablet contains 600mg of freeze dried saw palmetto berry. There’s 240 tablets per bottle, giving you months of supply. Note that saw palmetto is a long term supplement and you should always be patient. Its DHT lowering effects can take weeks or up to 6 months to fully manifest; that’s a general rule with hormonal supplements (like vitex chaste) too.
With a low price, this saw palmetto costs just a few dollars per month. Another advantage is being freeze-dried, like most of Eclectic Institute’s supplements. Instead being blasted into oblivion with high heat, destroying fragile nutrients, the raw saw palmetto berries are frozen solid to separate the moisture.
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Eclectic Institute saw palmetto is free from any problems at all: no magnesium stearate, corn flour, or preservatives. The capsule is made from harmless hypromellose and the reviews are high quality, across users of all ages. The only slight downside is that unlike Pure Encapsulations, there’s no exact proportion of fatty acids listed.
Eclectic Institute meets every requirement for an acne-clearing saw palmetto.
Amazon link: Eclectic Institute Freeze-Dried Saw Palmetto.
Seven – Superior Labs
Superior Labs is dedicated to purity and accordingly, their saw palmetto is free from magnesium stearate, preservatives and other unnecessary chemicals. They’ve even tested each individual ingredient and product for heavy metals and harmful bacteria.
The saw palmetto itself is standardised to contain 45% fatty acids and 0.15% phytosterols, a decent level, while the dosage is 300mg per capsule. That’s slightly low, but the quality is excellent and you get a 4 month supply: 120 capsules for a very low price.
Superior Labs is made in the USA, and the other two ingredients are plant cellulose and organic rice concentrate. The latter is designed to fill capsules, but unlike corn flour, it’s completely safe for acne and health. Superior Labs receives excellent reviews from its customers and there’s little doubt as to its effectiveness.
Overall, Superior Labs saw palmetto is yet another great choice for acne.
Amazon link: Superior Labs Saw Palmetto Extract.
Eight – Doctor’s Best
The saw palmetto is extracted using the efficient carbon dioxide process, and the capsule is made from gelatin again. As a softgel, Doctor’s Best is another brand which you must store correctly. It’s an easily affordable brand, with 60 capsules for a low price.
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There’s also bonus gelatin once again, as the capsule consists of gelatin, glycerin and purified water. The finished product is free from any chemical solvents, and any other additives: preservatives, fillers like corn flour, and magnesium stearate are absent.
Doctor’s Best has an inferior dosage but a superior standardisation: it’s yet another excellent saw palmetto overall.
Amazon link: Doctor’s Best Saw Palmetto Extract.
Conclusion
Overall, Oregon’s Wild Harvest is unbeatable, and the best supplement, but every other saw palmetto here is strong enough to succeed. Pure Encapsulations is also excellent for its guaranteed purity.
If you’re against unnecessary chemical additives in supplements (you should be!), not one of these brands contains any. Not all fillers are deadly, but some are, particularly corn flour, found in cheap supplements. Corn flour is high in lectins, phytates, and other inflammatory toxins, and if it’s GMO, perhaps even the herbicide glyphosate, which decimates your healthy gut bacteria. Any herbal supplement, mineral, or vitamin should have as few fillers as possible, although one safe filler is rice flour.
The saw palmetto market isn’t exactly riddled with corruption, but pure products like these can be hard to track down: this guide is your shortcut. My top brand, Oregon’s Wild Harvest, is completely vegan if that’s important.
Remember that saw palmetto isn’t a magic secret for everything; it specifically ends acne caused by rampaging androgens and oily skin. Saw palmetto is specifically excellent for women and men should always avoid it.
NEXT: the ultimate diet for clearing acne permanently
Thanks for reading!
First of all thanks so much for very informative articals. I am 30 year old female suffering from cystic acne from last 10 years. I was only clear for 1.5 years after my pregnancy. But from last 1 year I am struggling from severe acne. I am vegetarian and eat clean with limited sugar and very limited dairy. I tried DIM which break me out. I also have dandruff, hair loss and hirsutism, which I think is due to excess DHT. I started saw palmetto 2 weeks ago, I am still breaking out. how much time it takes to see the improvement.? What other things you suggest I should do? One more thing 2 years ago I took zinc supplements which broke me out with cystic acne on neck, it was the first time I started getting acne on my jaw line and neck. Prior to that it was mainly on cheeks and forehead. Can zinc disturbs the hormone level or increase testosterone?