Of the many nutritive herbs out there, stinging nettle is probably my favorite one!
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Also known as just basic nettle, this plant is rich in nutrients like flavonoids, lignans, minerals like calcium, potassium, iron, silica, chlorophyll, and vitamins like A, B2, C and K. It also contains organic acids, plant sterols, polysaccharides and tannins.
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This plant has many usages, the first one being that it can act as a diuretic and help treat edema, urinary disorders as well as prostate diseases like benign prostatic hyperplasia in its early stages.
Nettle can reduce histamine in the body, preventing allergy-like symptoms.
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How do the kidneys and histamine go hand in hand? Recall that in order to clear out histamines we need 2 enzymes: HNMT and DAO. DAO in particular is meant to break down histamines so they are no longer active, and is typically made in… you guessed it: kidneys, as well as thymus and gut lining.
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There have even been some studies showing because of its high vitamin K content, fresh nettle can be used as a poultice to stop bleeding wounds, nosebleeds, or other abnormal bleeds. Note here that DRIED nettle has little vitamin K and can be used as a blood thinner, making it good for those with high blood pressure.
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This brings us to our most important usage related to women’s hormones because of its histamine reducing capabilities and vitamin K content. Nettle can also act as an aromatase inhibitor and stop excessive menstrual bleeding.
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Remember, estrogen helps with the production of prostaglandins which are made by every cell in the body and are responsible for the contraction and relaxation of muscles and blood vessels. Too many can cause inflammation, downregulate DAO enzyme and increase histamine reactions which many women experience through period cramps. So if estrogen rises, inflammation rises, histamines rise, prostaglandins rise, and we have bad PMS as well as histamine reactions.
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With nettle being an aromatase inhibitor, it can help lower estrogen levels by stopping an enzyme in fat tissue from changing OTHER hormones into estrogen, which should help us avoid estrogen dominance.