Stinging Nettle: A Medicinal Herb

Stinging nettle (many gardeners’ adversary) can be a powerful medicinal plant. Generally, when we hear a plant name that has the word “sting” in it, the associations aren’t good.

May this article broaden our horizons! Stinging nettle has been a staple herb medicine since ancient times, dating all the way back to ancient Egyptians using stinging nettle to treat arthritis and lower back pain. Roman troops also used it by rubbing it on themselves to help stay warm.

What Is Stinging Nettle?

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is a rather common perennial plant belonging to the family Urticaceae. This plant and closely related species are found throughout the world: North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Stinging nettle does best in temperate environments with lots of sunlight, and has an extensive range. It is found throughout the United States.

If you’re unfamiliar with stinging nettle, you may have accidentally discovered it as it brushed against your fingers when gardening or pulling weeds. If this has happened to you, you learned rather quickly how to identify it. Stinging nettle, in addition to temperate climates and sunny areas, likes moist soil and disturbed sites. So agricultural fields and development sites are a favorite for this plant, making it rather common to find.

As the name implies, this plant packs a sting when brushed against your skin. In appearance, stinging nettle is a bright to dark green with hues of yellow. This herbaceous plant can easily grow to be 3 feet high or taller. The leaves are opposite in orientation, pointed and triangle-shaped with the edges having serrations. The entire plant (stems and leaves) is covered in fine, white hairs called trichomes — these are what sting you. Every trichome is like a needle, being hollow on the inside and filled with many different compounds that cause a bodily reaction.

If you are harvesting this plant in the wild, be sure you are properly identifying it. Harvesting a different species will result in different outcomes.

Stinging Nettle Trichomes (Needles)

Essentially, when your skin brushes against stinging nettle, the very fragile silica tips on the trichomes will break off in your skin, causing the venom from the trichomes to be injected (like a needle).

What exactly is inside these trichomes? Originally, it was thought that formic acid was the primary ingredient causing the nasty sting, but in reality, formic acid is present in too low concentrations to be solely responsible. It has since been found that histamine, acetylcholine, and serotonin cause inflammation and pain, while tartaric and oxalic acid cause the extended pain duration.

Fun fact 1:Formic acid is the same chemical that causes us pain when ants bite us.

Fun fact 2:Although serotonin is known as a happy hormone, it functions as an irritant when injected with stinging nettles.

*Along with these fun facts comes a general warning that the sting associated with this plant can cause mild swelling, itching, redness, and pain around the affected area. Be extremely cautious when first using or experimenting with this plant, as you do not yet know your body’s reaction.

At this point, you may be wondering how this plant could possibly be of medicinal use, and you might be convinced to avoid it at all costs. Now that we know the pain factors, let’s dive into the benefits.

Medicinal Benefits of Stinging Nettle

Stinging nettle has been used as an herbal remedy for thousands of years. Here’s a list of all the medicinal benefits (we’ll dive into specifics with a few of them).

Detoxifies the Body

Stinging nettle cleanses the body of toxins by neutralizing harmful toxins. It makes elimination quicker and easier on your body. It also helps increase nutrient uptake in the gut which aids in preventing the buildup of toxins within the digestive tract.

Provides Many Vitamins and Nutrients to the Body

Here are all of the minerals and vitamins nettle provides.

• Vitamins A, C, K, and B
• Minerals: calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and sodium
• Fats: linoleic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, and oleic acid
• All essential amino acids
• Polyphenols: kaempferol, quercetin, caffeic acid, coumarins, and other flavonoids
• Pigments: beta-carotene, lutein, luteoxanthin and other carotenoids

Many of these act as powerful antioxidants in the body. Antioxidants are molecules that help defend the body against free radicals.

Potent Anti-Inflammatory Properties

因为刺荨麻可以促进血液流动，有助于减少炎症。它还有助于防止身体产生炎性前列腺素。

Treats Diabetes

Stinging nettle has compounds that mimic the effects of insulin. In a 3-month study, 46 people taking 500mg of stinging nettles extract three times daily had significantly lowered blood sugar levels compared to a placebo.

Pregnancy Aid

荨麻是用来作为一个自然的补救妇女谁可能正在经历过度痛苦的分娩。它还有助于防止在分娩期间大出血，因为它是一种有效的凝血剂。

Promotes Feminine Health

It alleviates painful menstrual cramping and decreases bloating. It can also decrease blood flow during menstruation. For this same reason, it can provide a smoother transition to women going through menopause.

Lowers Blood Pressure

Stinging nettle may stimulate nitric oxide production, which acts as a vasodilator (vasodilators relax the muscles of your blood vessels, allowing them to widen). It also has compounds that may act as calcium channel blockers that relax your heart by reducing the force of contractions.

Other Medicinal Benefits

• Increases circulation
• Provides hormonal regulation
• Alleviates enlarged prostate issues
• Stimulates production of breast milk in nursing mothers, making post-birth lactation easier
• Supports wound and burn healing
• Relieves arthritis
• Helps urinary tract infections
• Increases urine output and treats for kidney stones

*Many of these medicinal uses have not been approved by the CDC and should be approached with healthy precautions to see if usage is right for an individual case.

Stinging Nettle Pain Remedies

如果你决定尝试这种植物的药用价值(无论是通过直接应用或制作汤或茶)，知道一些收获期间的疼痛治疗可能会有帮助。

1. Dock leaves are said to offset the pain as dock sap is alkaline in nature. This treatment isn’t proven, and some believe it to be a placebo effect.
2. 抗组胺药膏可以有效地阻断组胺的作用，帮助有效地阻断导致肿胀的受体。
3. Calamine lotion may be helpful as well as it helps sooth and decrease itching associated with the pain.
4. A rather interesting — again, not scientifically proven — remedy is to pee on the affected area. It’s the same logic as peeing on a jellyfish sting. Some say it helps, science says it doesn’t.
5. Applying an ice pack or moistened cloth.
6. 只需用肥皂和冷水清洗该区域。它有助于缓解疼痛和肿胀，同时也消除了硅毛。

Where to Find Stinging Nettle

Given the sting factor, and public distaste for the plant when the medicinal benefits aren’t known, you won’t find this in grocery stores (unless it’s a health food store and has been preprocessed). In health food stores, you can usually find stinging nettle teas, tinctures, creams, ointments, and capsules.

You will generally need to forage for them yourself, and as mentioned, they are found nearly everywhere. The best time to find and harvest them is spring, and sometimes they can be found in farmers markets. If you’re having a difficult time finding them out in the wild, you may have a local health food store or garden club that may be of assistance. Facebook, or similar platforms, may also have local plant groups you can reach out to. Or, can order seeds online and grow them yourself.

How to Use Stinging Nettle

Direct Application

Many people believe in direct application, and yes, this entails exactly what it sounds like — applying freshly harvested stinging nettle to your skin. Painful? Yes. Helpful? Extremely.

我个人认识几个这样使用荨麻的人。一名妇女患有严重的关节炎，在季节来临的时候，她每周会积极地收获并涂抹几次新鲜的荨麻。其他时候，她会收获新鲜荨麻并将其冷冻起来，以备来年使用，她发现这对缓解她的问题大有帮助。

另一个女人从树上掉下来(多年前收割水果)，摔断了髋骨。她现在遭受关节和关节炎的疼痛。每当她开始感到疼痛时，她就用荨麻敷患处。Her words (more or less) were that yes, it hurts temporarily during the process, but the long term relief it provides is well worth it (the woman with hand arthritis said similar).

Teas and Soups

如果你不喜欢直接申请，我不怪你，很多人都不喜欢。还有其他的方法来获得一些药用价值:茶和汤。信不信由你，荨麻非常美味，营养丰富。

下面是荨麻汤的制作方法。请注意，制作它的方法有很多，所以如果下面提供的方法不适合你的喜好，你可以寻找其他方法。

Stinging Nettle Soup

Ingredients

• 1gallon bag fresh harvested stinging nettle tops
• 1 tablespoon organic extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon nondairy butter
• 1/2 cup chopped organic shallots
• 1/2 cup chopped organic celery
• 1 pound chopped organic gold or russet potatoes
• 4 cups organic vegetable stock
• 1 or 2 cups water
• 1 organic bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried organic thyme (or a few fresh sprigs)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 ½ tablespoons organic lemon juice
• 2 or 3 tablespoons heavy non-dairy whipping cream

Recipe Instruction

1. Blanch the nettles. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil and prepare another large bowl of ice water. Using tongs or wearing protective gloves, transfer nettles into the boiling water and blanch for 2 minutes. Using tongs, move nettles out of hot water and transfer into the ice water. Strain water. This process helps remove nettle stingers so that you can easily work with the plants.

2. Remove any large stems from nettles.

3. Sauté shallots and celery in a large soup pot, heating the olive oil and nondairy butter first and cooking vegetables for about 5 minutes.

4. Add potatoes, stock, bay leaf, and thyme, and simmer for about 5 minutes.

5. Chop blanched nettles, add to soup pot, and simmer for about 15 minutes or until potatoes and nettles are soft and tender.

6. Remove the bay leaf and purée soup, then return to the pot and remove from heat.

7. Add seasonings, and directly before serving, add swirl in whipping cream and cracked pepper.

8. Enjoy your soup!

It should be noted you do not have to follow any specific recipe. You can simply add the dried leaves and flowers to whatever you happen to be cooking.

*Stinging nettle teas and soups are not as potent as direct application and you will not receive the full medicinal benefits.