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Urtica pilulifera (Roman Nettle) is an annual and perennial herbaceous plant of urticaceae family. This herbal plant is distribute throughout the world and is exceptionally popular in the medterrain region. Urtica pilulifera is traditional used as medicine

Medicine

Nettle is one of the commonly used herbal plants used in traditional and non-traditional forms of medicine to prevent and control diseases for many centuries. The popularity of the nettle plant is the plant’s effectiveness, decrease in toxicity, affordability, and availability. It is the leaf portion that contains terpenoids, carotenoids and fatty acids, amino acids, chlorophyll, vitamins, tannins, carbohydrates, sterols, polysaccharides, isolectins, and minerals. Because of the phytochemicals and their properties, nettle is utilized for its antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. Nettle is commonly used for many human ailments such as Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), osteoarthritis, diabetes, anemia, asthma, hair loss, etc. Studies have shown that the nettle plant contains compounds that affect the hormones responsible for BPH. Also, the root portion of the pant shows activity against prostate cancer cells. Nettle has been proven to help alleviate symptoms of osteoarthritis and joint pain. Studies have shown that applying nettle leaves directly can decrease joint pain and treat arthritis. Recent studies are showing that nettle plants possess anti-diabetic properties.

Food

Nettle has been and remains popular in poor countries and among the lower socioeconomic classes. Mainly the leaves of the nettle plant were used to prepare many different food recipes because they contain most of the vitamins and minerals. But other components of the nettle plant can be utilized such as the roots could be used to tenderize meats. The nettle leaves can be consumed as raw, blanched, fried, steamed, etc. There has been a small number of allergic reaction reports after ingesting raw nettle leaves. Therefore, nettle leaves should be prepared correctly by hot water infusion, drying or tincturing, maceration which will deactivate the formic acid. A study has shown that nettle leaves can also be used in cheese production. Nettle leaves were used to acidify the milk and lower the pH levels to produce a curd which was then obtained to further develop fresh nettle cheese. The study showed similarities between stabilization, pH, acidic levels in nettle, and regular lactic acid cheese. Therefore, nettle leaves have been concluded in the study to be an alternative to coagulate milk during cheese-making process. Nettle leaves can also be consumed as herbal tea because of the richness of vitamins and minerals.

References

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6100552/
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878450X16300178