Stinging Nettle: Benefits, Uses, and Precautions
Dr. Boris Wydoff
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is a perennial herb with stinging hairs on its leaves and stems. According to herbal medicine reference books, its leaves contain vitamins, carotene, chlorophyll, minerals, and other compounds. Herbal guides traditionally describe the plant as a vitamin-rich herb and a plant-based remedy for helping stop bleeding.
What Is Stinging Nettle, and How Can You Recognize It?
Stinging nettle belongs to the nettle family. It is a perennial plant with a tall, upright stem. The stem is usually unbranched, has a blunt, four-sided shape, and is covered with stinging hairs. Underground, the plant has a creeping, branched rhizome.
The leaves grow in opposite pairs along the stem. Each leaf has a stalk. The leaf blade is egg-shaped to heart-shaped or broadly lance-shaped. Its base is heart-shaped, and its tip is long and pointed. The edges have large, saw-like teeth. Both stinging and ordinary hairs are present on the surface.
According to plant identification guides, the leaves are dark green. They have noticeable whitish, coarse hairs pressed against the leaf blade. This feature helps distinguish the plant from similar species, such as white dead-nettle.
The flowers are small, green, and inconspicuous. They grow in clusters that form inflorescences. The flowers are unisexual. The fruit is a small, light-gray, single-seeded nutlet. The flowering period is listed as June through September.
Fresh nettle causes a stinging sensation when touched. This is due to its stinging hairs. They break off easily and release their contents, causing localized skin irritation. For this reason, gloves are used when harvesting the plant.
Where Does Stinging Nettle Grow?
The plant is often found in places associated with human activity, such as near homes, along fences, and beside roads. It prefers nitrogen-rich soil. It also grows in forest clearings and along riverbanks. The plant is widespread throughout the Northern Hemisphere.
Stinging Nettle: Benefits, Medicinal Properties, and Leaf Composition
The main part of the plant used in herbal medicine reference books is the leaf. It is described as a multivitamin-rich herbal ingredient. When considering the benefits of stinging nettle, it is important to look at the plant's composition and distinguish traditional beliefs about its effects from proven medicinal benefits.
The leaves are reported to contain carotene — 14—30 mg%, vitamin C — 100—200 mg%, vitamin K — 400 biological units per 1 g, vitamin B2, pantothenic acid, chlorophyll, the glycoside urticin, small amounts of tannins, and organic acids.
Another description of the herb lists gallic acid, gum, tannins and proteins, mineral salts, formic acid, and a glycoside.
According to herbal medicine reference books, leaf infusions and liquid extracts have traditionally been used to help increase blood clotting. Descriptions also report observations of increased hemoglobin levels and red blood cell counts.
Stinging Nettle for Bleeding: How Was It Used in Traditional Practice?
Herbal guides traditionally list the plant among herbs used to help stop bleeding. Preparations were described for various types of bleeding, including uterine, pulmonary, kidney, intestinal, and hemorrhoidal bleeding. Reference books also mention the herb in connection with vitamin deficiencies and anemia.
These accounts explain why stinging nettle appears in traditional descriptions as a remedy for bleeding. However, they do not mean that the plant is suitable for treating bleeding on your own.
Remember: bleeding is a symptom, and it can have many different causes. These situations require medical assessment.
How Does Stinging Nettle Affect the Urinary System?
Reference books list the plant as a diuretic. Its effect is associated with increased elimination through the kidneys. It appears in traditional herbal blends intended to support the urinary system. If you have kidney disease, using the plant requires caution and consultation with a doctor.
What Other Medicinal Properties of Stinging Nettle Are Described in Herbal Guides?
Older accounts of folk medicine also mention the plant in connection with liver diseases, cholecystitis, atherosclerosis, and certain gastrointestinal conditions. These accounts relate to the plant's traditional uses. They do not replace modern diagnosis and treatment.
Infusions and other preparations have also been described in folk practice for skin and hair care. Chlorophyll, a plant-based coloring agent, is also obtained from the plant. It is used in the food, perfume, and pharmaceutical industries.
Can You Eat Stinging Nettle?
Nettle is known not only as a medicinal plant. Young shoots and leaves are used as leafy greens. Reference books describe their use in vegetable soups and salads.
Before eating fresh leaves, you can blanch them with boiling water. This reduces their sting. The young parts of the plant are most commonly used as food.
How to Take Stinging Nettle: Forms of Use Listed in Reference Books
Reference books describe various forms of the plant material: fresh herb, dried leaves, leaf powder, infusion, decoction, fresh juice, and liquid extract.
Dried plant material is used to prepare an infusion. One herbal medicine description of Urtica dioica gives a cold-extraction method using 1 tablespoon of the herb, preferably fresh.
The doctor's book also includes a recipe for herbal tea with nettle. The ingredients are listed as follows: horsetail — 15 g, nettle, preferably harvested in spring — 10 g, knotgrass — 8 g, and St. John's wort — 6 g.
Steep a pinch of the crushed herbs in a cup of hot water for 10 minutes, then strain. Pour 2 cups of hot water over the strained herbs left behind. This recipe comes from descriptions of alternative herbal practices. It should not be considered a universal treatment for disease.
What Forms of Stinging Nettle Are Listed in Reference Books?
In addition to infusions and liquid extracts, traditional descriptions include tinctures, fresh juice, and dry leaf powder. These were used as standalone herbal preparations or included in herbal blends.
Older herbal guides also describe using young shoots and leaves as food and the fibers from the stems to make fabric. Until the 18th century, the plant was regarded not only as a food and medicinal herb but also as a fiber plant.
How to Brew Stinging Nettle Properly
Nettle leaves, known as Folium Urticae, are used as medicinal plant material. They are harvested while the plant is flowering. When preparing an infusion, it is important to use properly prepared plant material and follow the stated preparation method. Do not increase the amount of herb on your own. Plant material contains active compounds. Fresh nettle remains capable of stinging until it wilts. After wilting, the stinging effect decreases. For this reason, the plant may first be cut down during harvesting, after which the leaves are separated.
How to Harvest and Store Stinging Nettle
Leaves intended for medicinal use are harvested while the plant is flowering. During harvesting, try to avoid collecting large amounts of stems. You can pick the leaves by hand while wearing gloves. Another method is to cut down the plant and separate the leaves after it wilts and loses its sting.
Dry nettle in the shade. For medicinal plant material, the permitted moisture content is listed as no more than 14%. When harvesting, it is important to distinguish stinging nettle from similar plants. Small nettle has different leaf characteristics, while white dead-nettle has softer hairs.
Dried plant material is best stored in baskets or fabric or paper bags.
How Can You Distinguish Stinging Nettle from Similar Species?
Small nettle (Urtica urens) can be found in the same places as stinging nettle. It differs in having an annual life cycle and smaller, oval leaves with deeply cut, blunt, straight teeth.
Stinging nettle has dark green leaves with clearly visible, whitish, coarse hairs pressed against the leaf blade. White dead-nettle, also called dead nettle (Lamium album), has green or light green leaves with fine, soft hairs. It does not belong to the genus Urtica.
How to Find Stinging Nettle Abroad
Abroad, stinging nettle is usually easier to find by searching for its local name rather than its Russian name:
- USA: stinging nettle (also nettle).
- Germany: Große Brennnessel or Brennnessel.
- France: grande ortie, ortie dioïque, or ortie piquante.
- Latin name: *Urtica dioica*.
Different forms are available for sale:
- Leaves or aerial parts — loose for tea, in tea bags, as liquid extracts/tinctures, and in capsules;
- Root — cut and sold loose, as a liquid extract/tincture, and in capsules;
- Seeds are sometimes sold in specialized herbal shops, but this is less common.
Where to look:
- USA: health food stores, herbal shops, and online stores;
- Germany: Apotheken, including online pharmacies, Reformhäuser, and tea shops;
- France: pharmacies, herboristeries, health food stores, and online stores.
Check the packaging for *Urtica dioica* and the plant part: leaf/herb (Blätter/Kraut; feuille/partie aérienne) or root (Wurzel; racine). In the USA, dietary supplements do not undergo FDA premarket approval before being sold.
Stinging Nettle: Contraindications, Benefits, and Possible Harm
The plant should not be used by anyone allergic to it. Although stinging nettle has traditionally described beneficial properties, its use has limitations. Possible adverse reactions and interactions with medications should be considered before using the plant.
Fresh nettle can cause burning and irritation when it comes into contact with the skin. Itching, redness, rashes, and hives are possible. Nausea, abdominal discomfort, vomiting, and diarrhea have been reported when nettle preparations are taken by mouth.
Current evidence does not establish sufficient safety for medicinal use of the plant during pregnancy or breastfeeding. Caution is required during these periods. Nettle preparations are not recommended for children under 12 years of age.
If you have kidney disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, or a blood-clotting disorder, consult a doctor before use. Medical advice is also needed if you must restrict your fluid intake.
Caution is necessary when combining nettle with medications. Additional effects may occur when it is used alongside diuretics or blood pressure medications. Combinations with insulin, oral blood sugar-lowering medications, lithium, and warfarin require medical assessment.
The tannins in nettle may reduce the effects of iron supplements when taken together.
When to See a Doctor
Nettle is a medicinal plant, but using it does not replace medical care. You should see a doctor if you have unexplained or ongoing bleeding, especially if it occurs for the first time or is accompanied by a worsening of your general condition. Professional advice is needed if you have chronic conditions, take medications regularly, are pregnant, or are breastfeeding.
A severe allergic reaction, swelling, widespread hives, or difficulty breathing requires urgent medical attention. Children should not be given medicinal nettle preparations without consulting a doctor. If your doctor has prescribed treatment, herbal preparations are not a reason to change that treatment on your own.
FROM THE EDITORS
This article is based on herbal medicine reference books and traditional descriptions of medicinal plants. It does not replace consultation with a doctor.
Frequently asked questions
What are the benefits of this plant?
Reference books describe nettle as a multivitamin-rich plant traditionally used to help stop bleeding; its leaves contain carotene, vitamins C, B2, and K, chlorophyll, and other substances.
What are the contraindications?
Caution is needed in cases of allergies, pregnancy, breastfeeding, kidney disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and blood-clotting disorders.
How should it be brewed properly?
A cold-extraction method is described for Urtica dioica: 1 tablespoon of the herb, preferably fresh.
What forms is it used in?
Reference books describe infusions, decoctions, fresh juice, leaf powder, and liquid extract.
What is it traditionally used for?
Herbal guides traditionally describe it as a vitamin-rich, diuretic, and blood-stopping herbal ingredient.
When is the best time to harvest it?
The leaves are harvested while the plant is flowering. You can cut down the plant and separate the leaves after it wilts.
How should it be dried properly?
The leaves are dried in the shade. Wear gloves when harvesting fresh plants until they lose their sting.
Can you drink it during pregnancy?
Medicinal use of nettle during pregnancy requires caution because there is insufficient safety data.
Can stinging nettle be used if you have an allergy?
If you are allergic to nettle itself, do not use it. Contact with the fresh plant can cause burning, itching, redness, rashes, and hives. A severe reaction, swelling, or difficulty breathing requires urgent medical attention.
What does stinging nettle treat?
Traditional reference books describe it as a multivitamin-rich, diuretic, and blood-stopping herbal ingredient. These descriptions do not mean that nettle treats a specific disease or can replace diagnosis and treatment prescribed by a doctor.
Go deeper with Dr. Wydoff's materials
Handbook for the Healthy and the Ill (e-book, Russian) →The Healing Herbal Tea (video, Russian) →
Boris Wydoff — naturopath and author, Ph.D. in nutrition. For over fifty years I have helped people restore health through nutrition, cleansing and the power of the mind — in Europe, America and Asia. About the author →