Nettle Root and Hormonal Health | RAW Forest Foods
Nettle Root and Women's Hormonal Health
Nettle Root and Hormones: Moving Beyond Nettle Leaf and Using Nettle Root to Support Endocrine Health
Many people that have spent time in the forests and in woods are already familiar with the bite of Stinging Nettle and many women are already familiar with the therapeutic uses and health benefits of Nettle Leaf. Here, we are going to explore the use of Nettle Root for supporting women's hormonal health, including important benefits for managing Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).
People in Asia, Europe, and South Africa have been consuming Nettle for a long time, its use in the US has only recently begun to surge, and today an increasing number of women—and men—are using Nettle Leaf and Nettle Root.
Stinging Nettle is an important—and powerful—herb that has proven its position in the Western herbal pharmacopeia. The use of Nettle (Urtica dioica), whether you call it Nettle, Stinging Nettle, or just a nuisance while you’re out hiking, dates back for over 2000 years, and has a long use as a top spring tonic (alongside Dandelion Leaf and Root).
The association between wild Nettle and its painful stings has resulted in this nutrition powerhouse being neglected and frowned upon, but is Nettle a bothersome pest—just a nuisance—or is it a medicine and superfood?
A Brief History on the Medicinal Uses of Nettle: Nettle Use in Traditional Medicine Systems
Nettle leaves, roots, and stems have a long history of use in various traditional medicine systems.
Nettle and Chinese Medicine
In Chinese herbalism, both in Classical and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Nettle Seed is thought to contain tonifying properties, nurturing Yang energy and strengthening Yuan commonly known as Jing and as Kidney Yang or Kidney Yin.
In this way Nettle is used to restore the balance of Yin and Yang — the two opposite but interdependent forces essential for optimal health.
Nettle and Ayuveda
In Ayurveda, the traditional system of medicine and health care in India, Nettle is considered to have a balancing effect on Vata, Pitta, and Kapha—the three types of energy (doshas) of the human body.
It is revered for its nourishing and rejuvenating effects and is said to have soothing effects on the kidneys and adrenal glands. Ayurvedic practitioners recommend Nettle to increase vitality (Ojas) in people recovering from an illness.Here, we see what is essentially a synonymous use of Nettle within these two systems of traditional medicine.
Nettle and the Modern German Pharmacopoeia (DAB)
So What Exactly Is Nettle?
Also called Stinging Nettle or Common Nettle, it is a herbaceous plant native to Europe, Asia, northern Africa, and North America and is now found throughout many regions of the world. The perennial flowering plant is found in many parts of the world. In the US, it is referred to as Tall Nettle, California Nettle, or Slender Nettle.
Stinging Nettle belongs to the genus Urtica of the family Urticaceae. There are about 25 different species with the genus Urtica. Among them, Urtica dioica is the most commonly found species in the US.
Nettle plants occur in most parts of the US, Canada, and south along the west coast to Mexico (3). Nettle is typically found growing in marshes and meadows where the soil is soft and black and it often pops up after the earth is damaged: Logging, fire, agriculture, construction, and other human activities. It can also be found in any moist sites in or close to open forests and ditches.
The Nettle Nutrition Fact-Sheet
Nettle Leaf is known to be deeply nutritive as a food (a good source of vitamin A and calcium) and as a tea, is known to be able to improve skin, hair, and nail health.
- The leaves contain twice as much protein as spinach and parsley;(4)
- Nettle Leaf is a richer source of essential amino acids than Brussels sprouts and even almost almonds (by weight). It contains generous amounts of threonine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine, and lysine;
- The leaves, seeds, stems, and roots have high levels of heart-healthy fats, such as oleic, linoleic, and alpha-linoleic acids;
- One gram of Nettle leaf powder contains twice as much phenolic content as 100 mL of cranberry juice(5). Phenolic compounds are found in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and herbs. These substances have potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, anticancer, antihypertensive, anti-arthritic, and antimicrobial properties;
- 100 g of raw Stinging Nettle Leaf contains 499 mg of vitamin K, making it one of the richest plant sources of the vitamin;(6)
- The leaves contain high amounts of minerals, such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, sulfur, zinc, manganese, copper, nickel, and selenium.
Nettle is Rich in Numerous Therapeutic Compounds
Along with the nutrients, Nettle also contains incredibly beneficial medicinal chemicals. The occurrence and amounts of these chemicals can vary depending on the origin, time of sample collection, and the part of the plant.
Nettle Stems And Leaves—The Aerial Parts Of The Plant—Contain The Following Therapeutic Substances(7):
- Flavonoids: Rutin and rutinoside;
- Organic Acids: Caffeic acid, ferulic acid, chlorogenic acid, citric acid, fumaric acid;
- Essential Oils: Carvacrol, naphthalene, and phytol;
- Chlorophyll, tannins, and carotenoids (Vitamin A precursor).
Nettle Leaf is relatively commonplace within herbalism here in the US, but few know of the health benefits of Stinging Nettle Root. Harvested in fall before the ground freezes and transitions to a blustery winter, Nettle Root—as we will see below—is a gift to hormonal health.
Nettle Root and Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG): Optimizing Sex Hormone Levels
Through its unique actions on Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG), Nettle Root has the unique ability to seemingly add sex hormones where they are needed and delete them where they are not. Additionally, through Nettle Root’s action on the enzyme aromatase, it goes one step forward: Not only can Nettle Root add and delete, it can prevent the conversion (the aromatization) of estradiol, an estrogen metabolite which can cause damage.
The best thing about Nettle for hormone health is that it aids hormone production when the levels drop and cuts down hormone release when your body already has enough of it.
Nettle Root and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the leading cause of infertility in women of childbearing age.
Women with the condition have excess male hormones (testosterone) in the body. This hormone imbalance causes irregular periods, acne, and excess hair growth. Moreover, some women may struggle with getting pregnant.
Unmanaged or poorly treated PCOS may lead to type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
In the clinic, and for the audience at large, and increasing body of herbalists are integrating and using Nettle Root in the treatment and management of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), commonly referred to as polycystic ovarian disorder (PCOD).
Linda Crockett, author of Healing Our Hormones, Healing Our Lives, includes Nettle Root in her formulas for treating PCOS, and many Naturopathic doctors and herbalists are currently working with Nettle Root in treating PCOS.
Polycystic ovarian syndrome is one of the most common endocrine disorders plaguing women, and it seems that more and more women are suffering from PCOS. The effects of PCOS are severe, and affect many areas of a woman's life and do so in a multitude of ways. Polycystic ovarian syndrome causes a lack of ovulation, known as anovulation (the prefix of a or an = without).
How to Use Nettle Leaf and Nettle Root?
At RAW Forest Foods, we consider Nettle Root to be more of an ally or a best friend, someone that is supporting you to become the best version of yourself. Nettle Root has an adaptogenic and tonic effect on the endocrine system, it is not supplementing the body with phyto-androgens or phyto-estrogens. Instead, it is assisting your own body in finding an optimized, healthy harmony.
In this way, Nettle Root is a premier first line of defense, all while being an important and powerful herbal medicine for the long-haul. Sticking with the best friend analogy, Nettle Root is your constant companion, a friendly face when what you need is an welcome hello, a visit over a coffee or a beer, an ally through the thing and thin—there when you need them the most and when others are nowhere to be found.
Highlights
- Nettle Root is one of the most powerful herbs known to mankind. In fact, it is the master herb for balancing hormone levels in both men and women.
- It has shown promising results in alleviating the symptoms of estrogen toxicity, PCOS, and high cholesterol.
- Nettle is one the richest sources of plant protein, vitamin K, amino acids, and essential vitamins.
- Susan Weed, the longtime herbalist and author, writes of Nettle Root, "Use Nettle Root as a hair and scalp tonic, a urinary strengthener and stimulant, an immune system/lymphatic strengthener and a bit of first aid."
Product Resources
If you are considering adding Nettle Root into your herbal protocol, you’ll find different extracts of Nettle Root in the following products:
Powder Extracts:
Capsules:
- ß-Sitosterol and Swedish Flower Pollen Extract Capsules;
- Pine Pollen Alchemy Capsules;
- Pine Pollen and Nettle Root Extract Capsules.
Tinctures:
Elevated Pine Pollen and Nettle Root Tincture
Pine Pollen Alchemy Tincture
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