Via practica 2/2013

Phytotherapy of benign prostate hyperplasia

Benign prostate hyperplasia (BHP) is a common affection of aging men population. It is a prostate gland enlargement, very uncomfortable affection, committed to many symptoms. It is known that about 50 % of men in age 50 and 75 % of men in age 80 suffer of BHP symptoms. The most common symptoms are urgency, intermittence, weak stream, feeling of incomplete bladder emptying and irritative symptoms such frequency and urgent micturition and nocturia. In prevention as well as therapy of BHP are apart synthetic drugs also natural substances and plant extracts. Phytotherapy of BHP offers apart conventional medical therapy comparable results and many benefits. Here are especially plant extracts containing fatty acids and phytosterols with favourable effect to prostate. Among the most known are extracts from plants Serenoa repens, Pygeum africanum, Cucurbita pepo, Urtica dioica and natural substances as β-sitosterol and indol-3-carbinol.

Keywords: BHP, phytotherapy, phytosterols, plant extracts, indol-3-carbinol