The production of Sabalasan®
(Saw Palmetto) capsules
Saw Palmetto grows exclusively in Florida, in the southeast of the USA.
Sabal serrulata, which is the Latin name for American Saw Palm, is found to
the north of the Everglades, where the climate is hot and dry. Here the
fruit are freshly harvested and then slightly dried before being shipped to
Switzerland where A.Vogel / Bioforce AG uses them to create one of the best
known natural remedies for prostate conditions.
“Proud princes on distant shores” was how the great botanist, Carl von Linne,
once described tall, majestic palms of which there are approximately 3000
types worldwide. However the American Saw Palm cannot really be described in
these terms as most seldom reach more than one metre, although the plant can
occasionally grow into an impenetrable bush, several metres in height.
This dwarf palm grows in dense pine forests, tropical heat and sandy soil
being its favorite territory. Yet it is not an inconspicuous plant as it has
gleaming fresh green fan shaped leaves. It also possesses something which
none of its nobler relations can boast - a fruit which can relieve or indeed
cure prostate problems and which has proved useful for various other health
problems. Sabal serrulata has been used for decades as one of Bioforce’s /
A.Vogel’s most popular, proven natural remedies. Alfred Vogel discovered the
Saw Palm during his exploration of the Americas in the 1950s and learned
that the Native Americans in Florida, the Seminole, had used the fruit of
saw palmetto for hundreds of years for many conditions such as the onset of
prostate enlargement, bladder infections, digestive problems and even
stubborn coughs and bronchitis. But the Native Americans had another, very
important use for the small palm: they used it as a love medicine to help
improve erectile dysfunction!
Specific care of wild
stocks
One of the most important suppliers of traditional wild
grown plants is Plantation Medicinals Inc., located in the small town of
Felda in Florida, not far from the Okeechobee Sea. A.Vogel / Bioforce buys
around 10 metric tons of sabal fruit from this company each year. Experience
has shown that the most effective means of obtaining a good, healthy crop is
carefully to select a natural cultivation and devote time and energy to
ensuring that the wild palms have room to grow and are not overgrown by
forest or other plant seeds. To this end, roughly one square kilometer of fields
are fenced off and laid out to ensure that organic cultivation takes place
far away from industrial areas and citrus plantations, which could be a
source of contamination.
Wild fires are an integral part of plant communities in Florida so
Plantation Medicals engineer controlled bush fires to ensure that the ever
present threat of natural fires in this tropical climate is forestalled. The
stems of the saw palm, which lie partially on the ground, survive the fire
undamaged and afterwards have more space in which to spread. In this half
wild shelter, the dwarf palms are left to themselves and are not in any way
exposed to any kind of herbicide, fungicide or other chemical agent.
Working by hand under the
scorching sun
When the fruit of the saw palm is ripe, the harvest
workers must go out to the fields and hand pick the berries in searing
temperatures ranging from 35 to 42 degrees centigrade. A plant normally
contains from 50 to 100 berries, although in certain circumstances the
larger palms can contain even more. The fully developed berries are almost
as big as olives but are not really edible. In the fresh state in which they
are harvested, they are green, orange or black in color. Sometimes all
colors can be found on the same panicle at the same time.
Following harvest, Plantation Medicinals carefully dry the berries. Workers
oversee this process in the sweltering heat of the drying chamber to ensure
that the drying takes place evenly and so as not subject to deterioration
during their journey to Switzerland. Finally the wrinkled, blackened fruits
are packed into sacks for shipping. Thus the precious fruits begin their
journey, the end result of which is the natural remedy, A.Vogel’s Sabalasan.
The statements
have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
This product is not meant to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
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