Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens)

Ingredient context

Saw Palmetto's role in MIST is squarely anti-androgenic. Its lipidosterolic extract inhibits both Type I and Type II 5-alpha-reductase, the enzyme responsible for converting testosterone into DHT, the hormone most implicated in pattern hair thinning, through a non-competitive, allosteric mechanism rather than direct enzyme blocking. Two recent randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, one running 90 days and a second extending to 180 days, found statistically significant increases in terminal and total hair count in both men and women with self-perceived thinning hair, using an oral bioactive fatty-acid extract.

Safety context

This evidence base is almost entirely for oral Saw Palmetto. MIST uses Saw Palmetto topically, as a leave-on scalp spray rather than a swallowed capsule, and topical application carries a very different, and typically far lower, systemic absorption profile. Even so, because dedicated safety data on topical Saw Palmetto during lactation does not yet exist, breastfeeding mothers should check with their doctor before regular use, particularly in the first few weeks postpartum.