7 Amazing Proven Stinging Nettle Benefits

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is a known for causing pain whenever it's touched. However, it's been used for centuries due to its many health benefits.

Nettle is a true powerhouse and there are so many ways to incorporate it into your holistic lifestyle.

Have you been outside picking weeds, grabbed an innocent-looking plant only to end up being stung and stung badly?

Chances are that you encountered the Stinging Nettle.

The Stinging Nettle is a gloveless gardener's and curious plant lover's nightmare.  It doesn't have thorns or prickers that are obvious to the eye, but it has fine hairs that are full of a strong stinging punch. However, what's hidden beneath the sting is a plethora of healing power.

What is Stinging Nettle?

Stinging Nettle's botanical name is Urtica dioica and it's a perennial plant that's considered by most to be a troublesome weed.

Stinging nettle is often called common nettle, stinging nettle or nettle leaf and it is an herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae.

Why does Stinging Nettle Sting?

The Stinging Nettle plant has lots of fine hairs (trichomes) on the leaves and stems that contain irritating chemicals. These chemicals are released when the plant comes in contact with the skin.

When you brush up against them, you break off the fragile silica tip and the hair then acts like a needle, piercing the skin and causing the chemical on the nettle to be injected into the skin.

A Sting That Helps

What is curious, however, is that when these stinging hairs, or spines, of the stinging nettle plant come into contact with and area of the body that is experiencing pain, they can actually decrease the original pain. Scientists think nettle does this by reducing levels of inflammatory chemicals in the body, and interfering with the way the body transmits pain signals.

Stinging Nettle Venom

What is in stinging nettle that makes it sting?

There are actually a bunch of substances in the Stinging Nettle plant that cause the problems:

• histamine
• acetylcholine
• serotonin
• formic acid
• tartaric acid
• oxalic acid

From what I have read, the acetylcholine and serotonin cause the stinging and the acids cause it to last longer. The tartaric and oxalic acids aren't in all species of Stinging Nettle, but when they are present this is their function.

Serotonin is an odd one on this list. It's typically thought of as something that makes you feel good, but it doesn't feel good injected into your skin.

What's interesting as well, is that scientists think that any one of these ingredients alone isn't enough to cause as much discomfort as one typically gets from the Stinging Nettle plant, but that in combination, the effects might be enhanced.

This is something to consider when you hear people say “well, this synthetic chemical hasn't been shown to cause any damage”, because synthetics typically haven't been studied in combination with others.  Now of course, we're talking about natural substances here and not synthetic chemicals, but I think they could definitely be related.

Stinging Nettle Benefits

Despite all of the irritation that the Stinging Nettle plant can cause, it's a nutritional powerhouse. It's loaded with protein, fiber, fat, phenolic compounds, carotenoids, tannin, and anti-oxidants.

There is even a Tibetan Buddhist figure named Milarepa who is said to have subsisted only on nettles for years. However, he apparently even turned green in the process, so not thinking that's a great idea.

Stinging Nettle has a long medicinal history. In medieval times, it was used as a diuretic and to treat joint pain.

Following are some of the stinging nettle benefits that have been proven.

Cardiovascular

Nettle has been shown to have beneficial effect on high blood pressure which backs up it being widely used in Morocco for hypertension.

This study states that Stinging Nettle use in the treatment of prevention of cardiac disease is warranted.

Prostate Health and Urinary Issues

Another of the many stinging nettle benefits is that nettle has been shown to support prostate health.  It has also been shown to be beneficial in treating BPH (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia – enlarged prostrate gland).

The assumption is that there is some natural steroidal component in the Stinging Nettle roots that suppressed the prostate cell metabolism and growth.

Nettle has also shown some promise against prostate hyperplasia.

Hay fever

Stinging Nettle is a well-known on the list of natural allergy remedies.  Well, if you feel better during allergy season after using nettle, it's not all in your head.  It has been shown that there are bioactives in Stinging Nettle that inhibit the pro-inflammatory pathways related to allergic rhinitis.

Now above, I mentioned that histamine is one of the components of the Stinging Nettle that makes it sting.  It would seem counterintuitive that something with histamine could actually help treat allergies, but there is research showing that to be the case.

I suffered horribly from hay fever in my teens and twenties.  You'd better believe that I have nettle in my pantry all the time!

Joint Pain, Osteoarthritis and Other Inflammatory Conditions

Stinging nettle leaf extracts are actually registered in Germany for therapy of rheumatic diseases. It's an adjuvant therapy meaning that it is used alongside other mechanisms to make them work better.

In this report, it's speculated that Stinging Nettle might inhibit the inflammatory cascade of diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

Bleeding

Nettle has been used for internal bleeding, including uterine, nose bleeding and bowel bleeding. As it turns out, this might be a valid use.

Although it is only one of the components, nettle is part of the Ankaferd Blood Stopper, an herbal blend that has been proven to be effective in stopping bleeding.

Burn Wounds

Burns are a horrible trauma to the body.  Several things need to occur for the body to heal itself after a burn occurs and there are many concerns, one of them being infection.  The main goal of burn healing is to accelerate skin healing and prevent infection. To that end, often silver sulfadiazine and vaseline are employed.

However, in this study, Stinging Nettle was shown to be more effective than traditional burn treatments using silver sulfadiazine and vaseline. Just amazing!

Insulin Resistance and Diabetes

Type 2 Diabetes is a disease that often leads to devastating damage to the body including inflammation that can lead to cardiac issues.  IL-6 (interleuken-6) is a big factor in this disease and is secreted by fat tissue.  

Believe it or not, Stinging Nettle has also been shown to be effective in modulating these key players in Type 2 Diabetes, making it something that one could consider if one is thinking about preventing diabetes.

Other Stinging Nettle Benefits

Over many many years, numerous health stinging nettle benefits have been noted.

Following are some of the benefits that have been reported, as well as how nettles have been used traditionally, but these do need further study:

• promote hair growth
• help immune system
• help for anemia
• supporting adrenal health
• promoting lactation
• address kidney disorders
• preventing and addressing diarrhea
• decrease menstrual flow
• provide asthma relief
• soothe hemorrhoids
• stimulate contractions in pregnancy
• soothe insect bites
• relieve tendonitis
• promoting skin and nail health
• soothe acne
• soothe eczema
• support for thyroid health

Ways to Use Nettle

Now that you know about the many stinging nettle benefits, the question is–how do you use this tricky stingy plant?

Here are a few ways to use nettle whether you make these or buy them pre-made.

• Tea
• Tincture
• Infusion
• Capsule
• Eaten as Vegetable
• Juiced
• Clothing (yes, there really is clothing made from nettle!)

Where Can You Buy Nettle?

You can find a great source or two for nettle in the herb section of my Resources Page.

So the next time you are tempted to curse the existence of that plant, put on some gloves instead, and be thankful for its presence!

Did you know about all of these stinging nettle benefits?
Have you used nettle before?