Saw Palmetto

Women who are at increased risk of breast cancer because of their medical history or abnormal exams should be offered the opportunity to receive the breast cancer drug tamoxifen as a preventive measure, according to a special panel convened by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The panel issued its report last week in Atlanta at its annual meeting. "We are not recommending that women take [tamoxifen]," said Dr. Rowan T.

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Ga. -- They are a brave and seasoned lot, these firefighters who have swarmed to the Georgia swamp to extinguish its raging wildfires. But even for them, the "dreaded Okefenokee" -- as an old B-movie poster put it -- presents novel sources of fear. The most obvious of them slither quietly through the bogs and bask on the parched peat, all teeth and fearful symmetry.

Summer can play havoc on the hair with prolonged exposure to the sun, seawater and chlorine as well as the inevitable perspiration and humidity that accompany the season. "It's important to always keep the hair hydrated; deep condition at least weekly," says Marco Pelusi, owner of the namesake West Hollywood salon. He recommends using a leave-in conditioner to lock in moisture and guard against color fading, both in the pool and while lounging in the sun. This summer, there's a profusion of new products designed to make hair care easy and effective.

The manufacturer of a promising and widely used herbal treatment for prostate cancer told consumers Friday to stop taking the product after California authorities determined it was contaminated with potentially harmful prescription drugs. State health officials asked BotanicLab Inc. of Brea to recall PC SPES, the prostate cancer treatment, and another supplement, SPES, after finding they contained elements of the anxiety drug Xanax and the blood-thinning drug Coumadin.

Rather than rage against the indignities of age, Americans in record numbers are reaching for prescription drugs designed not so much to cure illness as to bolster the quality of life, a trend that has pharmaceutical companies feverishly developing 178 new compounds aimed solely at the symptoms of aging. From the anti-impotence treatment Viagra to bone-density regulators and baldness remedies, the new drugs capitalize on recent insights into the biology of aging.

Dr. Stephen E. Straus has never tried acupuncture. He has never gone to a chiropractor, nor has he ever swallowed a Chinese herb. Millions of Americans have used complementary medical approaches, but Straus is not one of them. Some might find this unusual, since it is Straus who leads the federal government's research effort aimed at finding out what works and what doesn't in this controversial medical field.

The health supplement industry, which made the exotic echinacea plant a modern alternative to chicken soup, is scrambling to find a cure for its sales malaise. Americans last year reduced purchases of vitamins, herbs and other health supplements for the first time since 1994, a sign that consumers have become skeptical of natural remedies marketed for maladies ranging from sniffles to depression.

It is the fastest-growing "alternative" in a nation increasingly enchanted with unconventional and unproven treatments. A million or more Americans have lately tried St. John's wort, an herbal remedy for depression with 1998 retail sales estimated at $400 million--up 3,900% since 1995.

The perfect body may not come in a bottle, but that doesn't stop many people from wondering: Could it come in a capsule? From a full body wrap? Perhaps one of those new abdominal stimulators would make a difference. To wonder is not to be entirely naive. The alternative, after all, is to accept a future in which the only answer for an out-of-shape body is a long, grim dose of leafy greens--and exercise. Or worse.