Organic Nettle Leaf
Urtica dioica
Do you ever feel like your muscles or joints are stiff and sore? Have you ever struggled with seasonal allergies that just won’t go away? Are you sensitive to dust, pet dander, or other allergens? Do you need to support healthy blood sugar levels or lower your blood pressure? Do you want to add an herb to your diet that is jam-packed with vitamins and minerals that can support your overall well-being? If you answer yes, then this may be your body telling you that you need support from the herbal friend nettle!
You might need nettle if . . .
- You have soreness and stiffness in your joints or muscles
- You are dealing with allergies
- You want to encourage healthy blood sugar levels
- You want to add vitamins and minerals to your diet
Benefits of Nettle
Nettle is a great ally to have on your team because it is almost like a super herb. It is jam-packed with nutrients and benefits your body needs daily. Nettle is most commonly known as a blood tonic that can also help move unhealthy cells out of our bodies.
Anti-inflammatory: Nettle has anti-inflammatory properties that can ease muscle stiffness, soreness, and discomfort.
Antihistamine: Nettle can help fight allergies by supporting the body’s natural response to allergens.
Promotes healthy blood: Nettle is high in iron, which allows blood to carry more oxygen, which can lead to higher energy levels.
High in vitamins, minerals, and nutrients: Nettle contains vitamins B, A, C, K, calcium, iron, linolenic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, and all essential amino acids.
Antioxidant: Nettle helps neutralize free radicals in the body and rid the body of bad cells.
Supports blood pressure: Nettle promotes healthy blood pressure due to nitric oxide, which helps relax and widen the walls of blood vessels.
Regulates blood sugar: Nettle can help reduce glucose levels in the blood and increase the body’s insulin sensitivity.
Common Ways to Use Nettle
Tea: You can make a simple herbal tea with nettle by steeping 1 tsp. of dried nettle in 8 oz. of boiling water for at least 15 minutes. You can sweeten it with raw honey to taste. Food: Fresh nettle can be made into pesto or even eaten as a steamed side dish. It is important to blanch the nettle before eating it. Tincture: Another popular way to use nettle is in tincture form. You can readily find them available online or at most health food stores. They are also quite simple to make, although it takes about a month until a tincture is ready to be used. Salve: Another way to use nettle is as a salve. Many creams and salves are available online. Capsule: Capsules are another great and easy way to take nettle. You can find capsules online or at many health food stores. It is also quite simple to make your own at home. All you will need is dried nettle and a capsule filler machine.
🌿Try making herbal extractions like this herbal multivitamin! ← 🟩 DIYs, recipes, and more!
Growing and Foraging Information
You can easily buy nettle online, but did you know you can find it growing wild in just about every state of the United States? You can find nettle in open forests, the edges of meadows, alongside riverbeds, or in disturbed soil beds near pastures. But since you can find it wild just about anywhere, it is really easy to grow your own.
Nettle will grow well in US hardiness zones 3-10. Many people also do well growing it in zones 11 and 12. Nettle thrives in full sun and loves moist loamy soil that is rich in nitrogen, and prefers undisturbed growing areas. It loves water, but if you live somewhere with constant rainfall, you won’t need to water nettle as often. Nettle spreads quickly and can easily take over entire areas if it is not deadheaded when it flowers.
Safety Concerns
Nettle is found in many parts of the world and has been used for centuries by many cultures. It’s been eaten as a wild food, used topically on skin, and drank as an herbal tonic. The fibers from nettle were also stripped and used to make cloth for clothing.
You have to be very careful handling fresh Nettles, but once dried or taken as a tincture, they are incredibly safe to use, even in high or frequent doses.
It is important to consider safety concerns in the context of history. You also must realize that many departments that bring up safety concerns are responsible for managing pharmaceutical drugs that have been manufactured in recent history. In the United States, there is no controlling authority or regulatory board specific to herbs. The most common reason you will see that these organizations bring into question the safety of various herbs is “insufficient evidence to determine safety.” Since there is no way to patent a naturally growing plant, there is often insufficient funding to conduct massive human studies.
Drug Interaction: If you have any health concerns or are taking any prescription medication, please consult with your health care provider before adding new herbs to your diet. If you are taking any prescription medications, it is important to always consult with the prescriber before adding any herbs to your diet.
Breastfeeding and Pregnancy: There are no known contraindications for breastfeeding and pregnancy.
Select Studies About Nettle
In this study, healthy individuals were used to test the effects of nettle extract on inflammation. Test subjects were injected with inflammation and took different amounts of nettle extract. By the end of the study, nettle was shown to reduce certain inflammatory cytokines by 51% and 100%. This dose-dependent anti-inflammatory effect lasted for at least 65 hours, supporting its use for rheumatic disease treatment. However, certain individual compounds in nettle did not show the same effects, suggesting the whole extract is necessary for its benefits.
In this laboratory-based experiment, researchers studied how stinging nettle can help lower blood sugar by testing the nettle extract’s effect on muscle cells. It was found that stinging nettle extract can help muscles store glucose but not release insulin.
In this laboratory-based experiment, researchers used advanced chemical analysis to identify key active compounds in nettle that contribute to its anti-inflammatory and antihistamine qualities. They found that stinging nettle extract helps reduce allergy symptoms by blocking histamine receptors, preventing mast cells from releasing inflammatory chemicals, and inhibiting key enzymes involved in inflammation.