Saw palmetto composition and associated methods

Abstract

A saw palmetto composition for nutritional supplementation, includes greater than about 0.2% saw palmetto sterols, and essentially no solvent residue. A method of extracting saw palmetto berries includes extracting by contacting ground saw palmetto berries with a substantially continuous flow of carbon dioxide at an extraction pressure of at least about 500 bar, and at a temperature of less than about 80° C. to thereby dissolve saw palmetto compounds in the carbon dioxide. The method may further include separating the extracted saw palmetto compounds from the carbon dioxide into a plurality of fractions by passing the substantially continuous flow of carbon dioxide after extracting through a plurality of separations. A first separation of the plurality may have a predetermined first separation pressure lower than the extraction pressure, and a temperature sufficient to prevent the carbon dioxide from solidifying, and each subsequent separation may have a lower predetermined pressure than the preceding separation.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.