Nettle
(Urtica dioica)
DESCRIPTION Stinging nettles grow throughout the world. Their name is derived from the presence of stinging hairs on their leaves and stems which when touched inject formic acid and histamine into the skin and cause urticaria, (or irritation and inflammation). Nettles have been widely used as food, medicine, cosmetics, and clothing.
PHARMACOLOGY Nettles are a rich source of trace elements, absorbing and accumulating them. Nettles contain formic acid and the neurotransmitters acetylcholine, 5-hydroxy tryptamine, and histamine which are responsible for the sting. These constituents are thought to endow nettles with their antiarthritic and antirheumatic and expectorant properties.
ACTIVE PROPERTIES Because of their rich nutritional content, nettles have traditionally been given to anemic, exhausted, debilitated or recuperating people as soups or teas. The stinging properties are lost when the plant is cooked. Nettles also have been traditionally used as an important hair and skin tonic. The high quantity of silicon has made nettles highly useful in stimulating hair growth, improving the condition of the hair and skin and treating dandruff. Nettles have been used internally and externally to treat eczema. Nettle juice has been used as an astringent or styptic to stop bleeding and to treat wounds.
The best known use of nettles is in the treatment of gout and other rheumatic conditions. A decoction of the leaves or the expressed juice has been shown to mobilize uric acid from the joints and eliminate it through the kidneys.
Recently a randomized, double-blind, clinical trial has shown the usefulness of nettles in the treatment of allergic rhinitis or hayfever.
HISTORICAL USES
- Gout
- Arthritis, tendinitis, sciatica, lumbago
- Eczema
- Hair loss and deterioration
- Allergic rhinitis, hayfever, sinusitis, sinus congestion
- Anemia, exhaustion, recovery
- Astringent, Styptic, wound healing
- Profuse menstruation
- Benign prostatic hypertrophy
- Anti-inflammatory
- Mild diuretic
- Encourage lactation
- Lower blood sugar
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