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Nettle I

It's not called "stinging nettle" for nothing: if you're going to spend time in a nettle patch, cover up. The hairs on nettle's leaves and stems are miniature hypodermics, waiting to pucture your skin, which - ouch! - stings, then burns, then aches. But on arthritic joints, that sting stimulates, then exhausts, the production of pain messengers to the brain. Nettle leaf soup (cooking neutralizes the sting) has been found to reduce pain and immobility in people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Nettles have anti-inflammatory and diuretic properties, and although it's not clear why, chemicals in nettle roots help relieve symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH.

(podcast: The Plant Detective, 7/26/14)

Beth Anne Austein has been spinning tunes on the air (The Folk Show, Dancing With Tradition, Freeforms), as well as recording, editing and mixing audio for Montana Public Radio and Montana PBS, since the Clinton Administration. She’s jockeyed faders or "fixed it in post” for The Plant Detective; Listeners Bookstall; Fieldnotes; Musicians Spotlight; The Write Question; Storycorps; Selected Shorts; Bill Raoul’s music series; orchestral and chamber concerts; lecture series; news interviews; and outside producers’ programs about topics ranging from philosophy to ticks.
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