Calm & Carry on! Part Two of Why we Love Stinging Nettle for Skin Care

We love stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) for skin care! This is why we make use of this plant in products for both external and internal benefit at bee23.ca. In Part One we share from our Clinical Herbalist Diploma thesis, 'Natural Beauty is Anything but Skin Deep: An Exploration of Urtica dioica on the Skin Aesthetic via Musculoskeletal, Cardiovascular, and Immune System,' how stinging nettle is able to get to the very bones of our skin care woes by strengthening connective tissue. We will continue in Part Two with experts from this thesis concerning the anti-inflammatory capabilities of this all-purpose green powerhouse, and why this is important to include in our overall skin care regimen. 

Inflammation is now recognized as a risk for age-related diseases and can have impact on the deterioration of the musculoskeletal system. Stinging nettle is a powerful anti-inflammatory, for both topical and internal use having impact on the musculoskeletal system and subsequently our skin. Healthy maintenance of muscle mass is important for youthful appearing skin. In youth the fat pads under the skin sit snugly together, but as the skin ages it beings to sag and those pads become thinner and not as tightly fit together. Muscle is what gives the skin fullness in this life stage. Ageing has adverse effects on skeletal muscles, with the progressive deterioration of cellular tissue tightly related to inflammation. The cause and effect are not clear. There are several theories to understand this relationship, including redox stress, mitochondrial damage, immunosenescence, endocrinosenescence, epigenetic modifications, and age-related diseases (Jenny, 2012). Likely, it is a multifold combination of these factors. In a study involving rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic inflammation, hyperproliferation of the synovial lining and cartilage destruction, stinging nettle was found to potentially regulate inflammatory mediators (Riehemann et. al, 1999). NF-kB (nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells) is a protein complex that controls transcription of DNA, cytokine production and cell survival. IκBα (nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells inhibitor, alpha) is one member of a family of cellular proteins that function to inhibit the NF-kB transcription factor. Proteolysis is the breakdown of proteins into smaller polypeptides or amino acids. Based on these findings, one-way stinging nettle may reduce inflammation in the system is by suppressing the activation of NF-kB in response to potential inflammatory stimuli by stabilizing the inhibitor IκB-α, thereby preventing its breakdown. In reducing inflammation, decline of the tonicity of the musculoskeletal system is abridged.

Recently, there have been findings between the correlation of loss of skeletal muscle mass and the health of the liver (Dasarathy, 2016). Stinging nettle was found to reduce overall inflammation in the body by having a protective effect on the liver as shown in a study with hepatic ischemia-reperfusion-injured rats (Kandis et. al, 2010). This fits well within a review of the importance of the musculoskeletal system to the aesthetics of the skin. Ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury is cellular damage that causes the release of toxic metabolites and several inflammatory substances into the systemic circulation. This can result in an increase in free oxygen radicals and leukocyte aggregation. Leukocyte aggregation is involved in the generation of vascular damage during various inflammatory conditions. This type of reaction in the body will ultimately lead to cellular death, organ destruction and eventually organ failure (Kandis et. al, 2010). In the study of hepatic ischemia-reperfusion-injured rats, subjects were divided into three groups including a sham group, a control group, and a stinging nettle group. A laparotomy was carried out on each rat, this being a surgical incision of the abdominal wall. Group one was only given the laparotomy, while the other two groups were brought to ischemia of liver. Ischemia is the deficient supply of blood to a body part such as the brain, or heart due to an obstruction for the inflow of arterial blood. After 60 minutes reperfusion, or the restoration of blood to the organ, was allowed to return to the animals for another 60 minutes upon which liver tissue samples and blood were collected from each. Once this procedure had been concluded the rats were disposed of. It is noted here by this author that it yet seems to be so much violence and destruction in the wake of finding what is historically imbedded in our ancestral knowledge.

Reduction in inflammation of a system has been shown to reduce the atrophy of cells, thereby having a positive impact on the longevity and vitality of the system, including the skin. In the study involving the ischemia-reperfusion-injured rats, researchers were able to determine that stinging nettle offers sustentation to the liver by decreasing the amount of inflammation. In reducing inflammation damage to the organ there is not as much inflammatory enzyme production, a decrease in oxidative stress, and less oxygen free radicals produced in the system. Firstly, the study was able to show that the enzymes acting as markers of injury to the liver were found to be lower in the rats of group 3 that were given stinging nettle infusions, in comparison to the rats in group 2 that were not given stinging nettle (Kandis et. al, 2010). The lower enzymes marking injury to the organ, shows that there was less injury to the system in the group that received stinging nettle confirming the protective hepatic ability of this herb.

Secondly, oxidative stress occurs when blood begins to flow and return to the organ once an obstruction has been removed. Oxidative stress is an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants in the body, causing greater inflammatory response in the system. Antioxidants play an important part in protecting the body from damage caused by oxidative stress. This study found that in the group given stinging nettle, there was an increase in the enzymes that are responsible for break down of toxins in the system and antioxidant activity reducing LDL oxidation and neutralizing free radicals. LDL, or low-density lipoproteins cholesterol is what makes up most of the cholesterol in the body. In increasing the break down of toxins, while increasing the activity of the enzymes that protect the LDL from oxidation and the neutralization of free radicals, inflammation was measurably reduced in the organs (Kandis et. al, 2010). 

Thirdly, it was determined that oxygen free radicals were reduced overall in the early stages of reperfusion. Oxygen free radicals are reactive molecules containing oxygen causing cell damage. High levels of an enzyme, namely Ceruloplasmin which is a protein made in the liver that works to inhibit superoxide-induced lipid peroxidation, were present in group 2 but in group 3 dropped to near the same level as the control group. Lipid peroxidation is the chain of reactions of oxidation degradation of lipids. This is the process when free radicals “steal” electrons from the lipids in cell membranes, resulting in cell damage. Interestingly, oxidative degradation causes unintentional changes in the surface of materials and plays an important role in the aging of polymers. Polymers are materials both artificial and natural, built from repeating chains of smaller chemical units. Many proteins in the body are polymers, including the DNA in cells of the human body. Keratin a polymer, is a protein made up mostly of epithelial cells and tissues that are generally insoluble and resistant to breakdown that form filaments which assemble into bundles to provide structural support, and are the primary component of hair, nails and the epidermal layer of skin.

It appears that stinging nettle can act in a preventative capacity against cell damage in the liver by reducing lipid peroxidation. Stinging nettle increases the activity of important enzymes that work to reduce inflammation and protect the liver from cell damage, thereby positively impacting the health of the musculoskeletal system, and ultimately the skin.

If you have any experiences you would like to share or questions, please add them to the comments. We want to hear from you! If you want to know more about products we offer with stinging nettle, or have personal inquiries about adding this multi-faceted plant to your beauty and body regime, send us an email or book a FREE 15-minute virtual consultation where we support you with skin care and beyond HERE. To learn more about The Skin Clinic CLICK HERE.

Because we all want to stay hotties naturally at bee23.ca!

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