Supplements & Herbs

Maria Treben on the stinging nettle as a medicinal plant

Herbologist on Urtica dioica healing benefits (incl. testimonials)

Maria Treben writes in Health Through God`s Pharmacy that she heard a physician state on the radio that nettles count among the best medicinal plants available to mankind.

This feeling is not only shared by a number of naturopathic practitioners but also increasingly corroborated by a growing body of scientific research — which additionally (at least partially) confirms Treben's other statements regarding the benefits of nettles, many of which are listed in the following.

According to Treben, all parts of the nettle plant, i.e. roots, leaves, stems and flowers, have healing power — and the available research has indeed demonstrated medicinal effects for every part of several Urtica species against a large variety of diseases including cancer.

Treben considers the nettle as man's best blood-cleansing while blood-building medicinal plant. Nettle tea exerts a positive influence on the pancreas and lowers blood sugar (compare Urtica diabetes research), heals urinary tract diseases and infections (see Urtica's demonstrated positive effect in men with BPH), promotes regularity, and helps against kidney and bladder stone formation.

Treben writes that nettles provide excellent help against viral diseases (see research into Urtica's antimicrobial and immune-enhancing effects). While she feels that the nettle helps individuals with iron deficiency and consequent fatigue due to its iron content, research seems to indicate that iron is not well absorbed from boiled nettle (see Urtica: General), so other mechanisms must be at play to explain why nettles have helped with anemia and other serious blood diseases.

According to Treben's experiences, nettles combined with other medicinal herbs are even successfully used in cases of leukemia (see her three case reports summarized here).

Drinking nettle tea on a longer basis has powerfully helped against any type of allergy incl. hayfever (there are numerous anecdotal reports confirming this, as well as research corroborating the nettle's anti-allergy potential).

Nettles remove susceptibility to colds and help with sciatica and rheumatism (see research into Urtica's anti-inflammatory effects).

Due to their diuretic activity, nettles help with edema and water retention (this diuretic effect claimed in a number of German sources so far has only been demonstrated in animals, see Acute diuretic, natriuretic and hypotensive effects of a continuous perfusion of aqueous extract of Urtica dioica in the rat).

Treben writes that people suffering with arterial occlusive disease ("smoker's leg") could frequently avoid amputation by starting to take nettle root footbaths at an early stage.

Nettle sting treatment (the pain- and disability-relieving effect of which has now been scientifically corroborated) is recommended by Treben against sciatica, lumbago, and neuritis in arms and legs.

Other folk medicine uses of nettle tea (taken over a number of weeks) listed by Treben include liver and gallbladder disease, afflictions of the spleen including tumors, congestion of lung and stomach, stomach cramps and ulcers, intestinal ulcers and lung diseases.

Every spring and autumn, Maria herself did a four-week "nettle tea cure" using freshly sprouted nettles, taking one cup on an empty stomach half an hour before breakfast and one to two cups during the day, drunk in small sips (drinking in small amounts increases the beneficial effect, likely due to the direct absorption into the bloodstream of some of the tea via the oral mucosa and the spreading of the herbal medicine across the day).

Maria writes that after each such nettle course, she felt incredibly good, energetic, supple and youthful, and was able to work three times as hard as she normally did.

The nettle tea is taken without sugar but optionally — to improve the taste — with some added camomile or peppermint. To preserve the valuable active ingredients, the tea is only shortly exposed to boiling water. As a general preventative, nettle tea should be drunk year-round at a dose of one cup a day.

Some of the nettle treatment testimonials furnished by Maria Treben (abridged excerpts)

Constant eczema and headaches after childbirth were swiftly healed with nettles tea. Another case of eczema, very painful and of long standing, was also healed with nettle tea. Treben adds that in most cases eczema is internally caused and must be treated with bloodcleansing herbs.
Anemia, stomach and gallbladder issues plus constant headaches were quickly relieved thanks to nettle tea.
A woman with painful sciatica which had been treated for several years to no avail was rid of all pain after taking six nettle baths spaced out over six months.
A woman with very sparse hairgrowth had been wearing a wig which killed off next to all of her remaining hair. Her hair regrew after using fresh nettles and a nettle root decoction as a "shampoo". Maria Treben adds that everyone's hair will benefit from using nettle root tincture made at home in the spring or autumn.
A case of facial fistula (on the cheekbone) of 28 years standing (where the treating professor had advised against surgery) somewhat improved after naturopathic treatment but did not heal. In the month of March, the patient started collecting the first fresh nettles and drinking three cups of tea a day mixed with a teaspoon of Swedish bitters. Two weeks later, her fistula had healed and she was free of pain (and still was at the time of reporting eight months later).
Exhaustion, a suppurating corn, and nail fungus: after taking nettle tea every day for some months, the woman concerned was no longer tired and exhausted in spite of daily hard work. Her corn that had caused pain all the way to her upper thigh had vanished, as had a nail fungus she had hesitated to have surgically removed.
Business woman: since taking along nettle tea in a thermos on all her activities she feels rejuvenated and easily recovers from fatigue.
"Patches" in the stomach and back area that wouldn't heal healed up thanks to nettle tea.
Crippling headaches making the patient feel suicidal, subsequent to suffering with flu three years prior which had turned the patient's urine a dark brown colour. Medical treatment (tablets and injections) brought no relief but worsened the headaches instead. The patient drank two and a half liters of tea in the course of the day, and as early as four days later, his headaches were gone. He later reported to now feel better than he had before the flu.
Unclear illness of 19 years standing which many neurologists were unable to diagnose let alone provide help with. The patient drank nettle tea for a week and the mystery illness was gone. Maria Treben adds that serious diseases require large amounts of tea — at least two liters a day which should be taken in small sips.

Note: You can also read some of Maria Treben's miracle herbal cancer cures, the Urtica membranacea cancer cure (a German physician successfully used stinging nettles for healing benign and malignant tumors) as well as Stinging nettle (urtica dioica) cure testimonials.

How to use the stinging nettle according to Maria Treben

For reasons of copyright, her complete advice won't be quoted/translated here but for two important rules:

1) Be sure to collect your nettles from the cleanest spot you can find.

2) Experience has shown that the nettles' healing benefits are the greater the fresher the plant.

For the rest, Maria Treben's highly recommended books provide all the details on how to brew the tea, how to make your own nettle tincture, how to prepare a nettles foot bath, how to use nettles for washing your hair etc.

Note: Eminent cancer researcher Prof. Dr. Dr. Paul Seeger concurs with Treben's assessment of the healing power of Urtica dioica. Adding a scientific perspective, he lists the numerous ingredients of the nettle and describes it as a highly active anti-cancer plant, due inter alia to the elevated number of hydrogen acceptors it contains.

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