The health benefits of nettle tea are now slowly being rediscovered.

“The sting of the nettle is nothing compared to the pains it heals.” That’s a phrase that has echoed through the annals of historical herbal literature for years. And why not? Europeans have been using the nettle for its medicinal properties for several centuries. Now a new generation is poised to rediscover what their ancestors have known all along.

The stems, leaves, flowers, and roots of the nettle plant have powerful medicinal properties. The nettle has an intense green color that reveals its high iron and chlorophyll content. The minerals calcium, magnesium, silicon, sulfur, copper, chromium, zinc, cobalt, potassium, and phosphorus are abundant in nettle. Nettle also contains vitamins A, C, D, E, and K, as well as riboflavin and thiamine.

In Europe, nettle was used as a spring tonic and in the treatment of scurvy. The Germans used it during the war as fodder and found that horses that had lost weight due to digestive problems benefited when nettles were added to their rations.

Meanwhile, in Russia, it is used as an antiseptic and astringent. The dried and powdered nettle herb is inhaled to stop nosebleeds. Nettle tea is used to improve heart function, relieve headaches, and relieve internal bleeding, especially after childbirth.

Nettle is said to be extremely beneficial for the kidneys, as it is helpful in expelling gravel from the bladder and dissolving kidney stones. It is a powerful blood purifier that removes toxins and metabolic waste by stimulating the kidneys to excrete more water. Nettle tea is said to cleanse the entire intestinal tract while activating the body’s natural defense mechanisms.

Nettle tea also kills and expels intestinal parasites such as worms. It is useful in the treatment of dysentery, diarrhoea, hemorrhoids and inflammation of the kidneys. It is also useful in the treatment of asthma as it helps expel phlegm from the lungs.

Nettle is also used to increase fertility in both men and women. Due to its high calcium content, nettle tea is specific for relieving leg cramps and other muscle spasms, and also decreases pain during and after childbirth.

In the book, “The Family Herbal”, authors Barbara and Peter Theiss recommend nettle tea as a long-term stimulation therapy for allergies, for people with weak complexions, and as an additional de-loading therapy in connection with all kinds of rheumatism and gout.

So the next time you see a nettle plant, remember that it is one of the most formidable herbs out there, possessing properties that are likely to soothe or alleviate whatever ails you.