Stinging Nettle

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Background

Stinging Nettle is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant, native to Europe, Asia, northern Africa, and North America, and is the best known member of the nettle genus Urtica. The plants have stinging hairs (trichomes), whose tips come off when touched, transforming the hair into a needle that will inject a cocktail of irritants: acetylcholine, histamine, 5-HT and possibly formic acid. This mix of poisons cause a sting or paresthesia from which the species derives its common name, as well as the colloquial names burn nettle, burn weed, burn hazel.aw palmetto is used popularly in Europe for symptoms associated with benign prostatic hypertrophy (enlargement of the prostate). It is the most popular herbal treatment for this condition.

Health Benefits of Stinging Nettle

Stinging nettle has many uses. It is used by many different cultures for a wide variety of purposes in herbal medicine and has been known to be used back in the times of ancient Greece.

Nettle leaf is an herb that has a long tradition of use as an adjuvant remedy in the treatment of arthritis in Germany. Nettle leaf extract contains active compounds that reduce TNF-α and other inflammatory cytokines. Not only does nettle leaf lower TNF-a levels, but it has been demonstrated that it does so by potently inhibiting the genetic transcription factor that activates TNF-a and IL-1B in the synovial tissue that lines the joint.

A study on healthy volunteers demonstrated the anti-inflammatory potential of nettle. In this study, nettle extract significantly reduced TNF-a and IL-1B concentration in response to stimulation by these pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Another study conducted on forty patients suffering from acute arthritis compared the effects of 200 mg of an anti-inflammatory drug (diclofenac) with only 50 mg of the same drug in combination with stewed nettle leaf.[5]
Total joint scores improved significantly in both groups by approximately 70%. The addition of nettle extract made possible a 75% dose reduction of the toxic drug, while still retaining the same anti-inflammatory benefits with reduced side effects. This study implies that people taking nettle extract could possibly reduce their dose of a COX-2 inhibiting drug, while at the same time protecting against the recently discovered potential adverse of effects of some COX-2 inhibitors, i.e., elevated TNF-a and IL-1B.

An extract from the nettle root (Urtica dioica) is used to alleviate symptoms of benign prostate enlargement. Nettle leaf extract, on the other hand, is what has been shown to reduce the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-a and IL-B1.
Nettle stems contain a bast fibre that has been traditionally used for the same purposes as linen and is produced by a similar retting process.

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