Botanical species · safety record

Urtica dioica

The EFSA Compendium of Botanicals holds 8 constituent measurements, 1 adverse-effect record and 4 genotoxicity assays for Urtica dioica. This page reports what those source records contain and how to reach them. It carries no effect estimate, no dose and no recommendation.

Accepted name in source: Urtica dioica L.

8Constituent measurements

5Safety records

6Cited sources

1,203Licensed products (Canada)

Also recorded as

Urtica spp.

Synonyms are carried from the source compendium. A species may be traded and studied under more than one name, which is exactly how a safety record gets lost.

Regulatory presence

Health Canada's Licensed Natural Health Products Database holds 1,203 licensed products naming Urtica dioica as a medicinal ingredient, matched on the exact Latin binomial. A licence records that a product met the regulator's requirements for sale in Canada. It is not evidence that the product works.

Extract types on licence

Dry
Extract Type TBA
Fresh
decoction
fluid

Source material stated

Aerial (powder)
Aerial parts
Aerial parts extract
Beta-sitosterol
Dried leaf
Dried root(s)
Fresh Flowering Plant
Fresh flowering tops/aerial parts

What the records describe

Constituents measured

Plant parts

Preparations

Effect types

Target tissues

Recorded constituents

What analytical work has found in this species, at which plant part and preparation. A measured constituent is a fact about material, not about effect.

Substance	Plant part	Preparation	Concentration	Analytical method	Source
Alkaloids	Unspecified	—	—	Phytochemical screening	Resolve DOI
Anthraquinones	Unspecified	—	—	Phytochemical screening	Resolve DOI
Carvone	Aerial part of plants	Essential oil	9 Percent	GC-MS	Resolve DOI
Eugenol	Aerial part of plants	Essential oil	1 Percent	GC-MS	Resolve DOI
Furan derivatives	Aerial part of plants	Essential oil	1.4 Percent	GC-MS	Resolve DOI
Lectins	Unspecified	—	—	Unspecified	Resolve DOI
Naphthalene	Aerial part of plants	Essential oil	8.9 Percent	GC-MS	Resolve DOI
Tannins	Unspecified	—	—	Phytochemical screening	Resolve DOI

Recorded adverse effects

Adverse effects reported in the source literature, most often in animal or laboratory models at a stated preparation and dose.

Effect	Target tissue	Plant part	Preparation	Test organism	Test type	Source
Digestive	Digestive	Unspecified	Solvent extraction	—	In vitro	Resolve DOI

Genotoxicity testing

Outcomes of genotoxicity assays as recorded in the source. A negative assay is a result under those test conditions, not a clearance.

Outcome	Endpoint	Test	Tested organism	Metabolic activation	Source
Positive	gene mutation	somatic mutation assay in Drosophila	Drosophila melanogaster (as animal)	—	Resolve DOI
Positive	DNA damage and/or repair	single cell gel/comet assay in mammalian cells for detection of DNA damage	Human (as organism)	—	Resolve DOI
Positive	chromosome aberration	in vitro mammalian chromosome aberration test	Human (as organism)	—	Resolve DOI
Positive	DNA damage and/or repair	in vitro mammalian cell micronucleus test	Human (as organism)	—	Resolve DOI

Cited sources

The literature the compendium cites for this species. Metatron Health has no relationship with these authors or journals and earns nothing from citing them.

Basaran, AA., Yu, TW., Plewa, MJ., Anderson, D. An investigation of some turkish herbal medicines in Salmonella typhimurium and in the COMET assay in human lymphocytes. TERATOGENESIS CARCINOGENESIS AND MUTAGENESIS, 1996, vol. 16, no. 2, p. 125-138. DOI
GRAF, U., MORAGA, AA., CASTRO, R., DIAZCARRILLO, E. GENOTOXICITY TESTING OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF BEVERAGES IN THE DROSOPHILA WING SOMATIC MUTATION AND RECOMBINATION TEST. FOOD AND CHEMICAL TOXICOLOGY, 1994, vol. 32, no. 5, p. 423-430. DOI
Gul, Suleyman., Demirci, Betul., Baser, Kemal Husnu Can., Akpulat, H. Askin., Aksu, Pinar. Chemical Composition and In Vitro Cytotoxic, Genotoxic Effects of Essential Oil from Urtica dioica L.. BULLETIN OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION AND TOXICOLOGY, 2012, vol. 88, no. 5, p. 666-671. DOI
Khan, Amir Muhammad., Qureshi, Rizwana Aleem., Ullah, Faizan., Gilani, Syed Aneel., Nosheen, Asia., Sahreen, Sumaira., Laghari, Muhammad Khan., Laghari, Muhammad Yousif., Shafiq-Ur-Rehman., Hussain, Ishtiaq., Murad, Waheed. Phytochemical analysis of selected medicinal plants of Margalla Hills and surroundings. JOURNAL OF MEDICINAL PLANTS RESEARCH, 2011, vol. 5, no. 25, p. 6017-6023. DOI
Onal, S., Timur, S., Okutucu, B., Zihnioglu, F. Inhibition of alpha-glucosidase by aqueous extracts of some potent antidiabetic medicinal herbs . Preparative biochemistry & biotechnology, 2005, vol. 35, no. 1, p. 29-36. DOI
Timoshenko, AV., Kayser, K., Kaltner, H., Andre, S., Gabius, HJ. Binding capacities of two immunomodulatory lectins, carrier-immobilized glycoligands and steroid hormones in Lung cancer and the concentration of nitrite nitrate in pleural effusions . Lung cancer, 1996, vol. 14, no. 1, p. 75-84. DOI

Boundary

A constituent measurement is a fact about material at a stated preparation, not a statement about what that material does in a person. An adverse-effect or genotoxicity record is an observation reported in a source, most often in an animal or laboratory model. Neither is a Metatron Health conclusion about causality, human risk or benefit, and the absence of a record is not proof that a preparation is safe. Nothing here is diagnosis, prescribing or individual medical care.

Continue

Independent literature