Nettle is an herbaceous perennial, infamous for the stinging hairs on its leaf and stem. The genus name is from the Latin uro (to burn), in reference to the painful rash caused by its biting hairs.

The herb grows in fields, moist thickets and along roadsides and can be found throughout North America and Europe.

Nettle has been used since ancient times as a medicinal plant: The Greek physicians Dioscorides and Galen used nettle leaf to treat asthma and pleurisy (breathing pain associated with inflammation of the membranes surrounding the lungs). During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Eclectic physicians used this highly nutritious herb to treat eczema and chronic cystitus.

Nettle is used effectively to treat body-wide inflammation in Europe. Its primary benefit appears to be as a supportive therapy for rheumatism, according to the German Commission E. (similar to a German FDA). Some uncontrolled studies, using dosages as high as 1,340 mg of an extract known as IDS23 showed some improvement and/or reduction in the need/use of NSAIDs (drugs like aspirin or acetaminophen, ibuprofen).

The herb has also been used to sustain good kidney health, in part through helping with inflammatory diseases of the urinary tract as well as with renal gravel (kidney stones).

Either the fresh juice or a tincture made from dried aerial parts of nettle (the flowers, leaves, and stems) may be applied to the skin to relieve joint pain and muscle aches. It is also an astringent.

For allergies, the commonly studied dosage is 300 mg twice a day of freeze-dried nettle leaf.

In vitro and ex vivo studies have found that nettle leaf extract effectively inhibited prostaglandin and leukotriene synthesis and suppressed pro-inflammatory cytokine production.

There have also been a small number of European studies which show nettle suppresses Tumor Necrosis Factor and IL1, as well as other inflammatory mechanisms.

Best to avoid if you have cardiac (heart) or renal (kidney) problems.

May affect (positively or negatively) the effectiveness of certain NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications) - consult your physician before taking both concurrently. Also notify them is you are taking anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, sedative, or blood sugar–lowering medications, just to be safe.

Do not confuse the use of the leaf with that of the root, which has been used to manage benign prostatic hyperplasia - otherwise known as an enlarged prostate.

Nettle leaves may attenuate allergy responses during hay fever season, partly through its effect on stabilizing the histamine reaction. Side effects that may occur are generally very mild for the leaf.

Netle root may cause side effects that include gastrointestinal and allergic side effects.