Bernard O'Shea: I drank two cups of nettle tea every day for six weeks, with a surprising result

Bernard O'Shea lost weight when he swapped out his regular tea and coffee for nettle tea

Bernard O'Shea tried two cups of nettle tea a day for six weeks.

There are some unique benefits and side effects to drinking nettle tea. Still, nothing will erase the memory of being stung consistently by them as a child, and dock leaves DON'T WORK.

As a kid growing up in rural Ireland, my three significant enemies, in order of threat level, were: 1) my older sisters were relentless in their pursuit to capture me and dress me up as a human doll; 2) ringworm; and 3) nettles.

I was that kid who always got stung. Once I fell into a bush full of them. My whole face ballooned up like an overzealous botox practitioner attacked me. I got stung on the inside of my eyelid, and I can still remember the pain. When you are screaming in pain (I have been told that I was a teeny bit dramatic as a child), the last thing you want to hear is, "Rub dock leaves on it."

Before the internet and WebMD, Ireland had two answers to every ailment - flat 7-Up and dock leaves. Dock leaves never worked. I always thought nature was so cruel as to put a supposed cure to stings beside the nettles. Even as a child, I remember saying to one of my friends, "Why would they do that? It's STUPID." 

Ireland has a few of these side-by-side medical anomalies. For instance, pubs are generally beside chippers. The best hangover cure is a salty bag of chips and a can of Coke. Still, they don't open or deliver at 9:30am when your youngest is screaming at you, "I WANT HOT MILK AND WEETABIX AND PJ MASKS. NOW!"

There is no scientific evidence to state that dock leaves have the power to cure stings. A recent article by biologists Phil Gates, Dr Christian Dunn for BBC Wildlife magazine stated that: "One possibility is that dock leaf juice evaporating from the skin may have a surface cooling effect on the burning sensation. Another is that dock leaves might contain natural antihistamines that reduce the irritation, though none have been identified."

Most online sources point to the placebo effect and that the actual rubbing essentially takes your mind off the stings.

However, people are known to force themselves to be stung, never mind look for a cure afterward. One friend of mine recounted a story where their eldest child had terrible hay fever. They tried everything to soothe his symptoms from local honey, salt lamps, and every natural health shop elixir. Expensive goo for his nostrils, not drying his clothes outside,  everything. She told me that she then read an article stating that nettles increase the body's natural antihistamine. 

The stinging nettle leaf may help reduce hay fever symptoms by acting as an anti-inflammatory. There is some truth to this, as research has linked treatment with stinging nettle leaf to relieve symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose, and itchy eyes. 

But as always, comprehensive studies with scalable monitored results are needed to confirm the benefits. However, undeterred and at the end of her wits, she tried to get him to walk into a big pile of nettles every day for a week. She told me, "It did nothing, but now he twitches when we are near a field."

The benefits are more likely found in consuming the nettle instead of getting stung by it. Nettle tea is the most common form of getting this pesky weed down your gullet. However, I would not be a decent son of nature and pluck them myself even though I know they can be picked without being injured. 

It was a well-worn outdoor party trick for kids to grab them and not get stung. It used to be up there with weeing on an electric fence. I was going to buy them all nicely packaged and presented.

What I was surprised by at my local supermarket was a wide selection of herbal teas and nettle teas. So I bought a few brands and started gulping down two cups every day for six weeks —one cup in the morning and one at lunch.

Usually, I'd Google the benefits and then match my findings against anything similar that I found. But I didn't this time. I didn't want to be pre-programmed with ideas that would make me think I was getting some health benefit from it.

The only drink that I found beneficial to go to the effort of making in the last year is turmeric tea. It most definitely made me eat less in the evenings. Note, this mightn't be the case for everyone, bellies do differ. But it's a pain to make. You have to stir it constantly, or else it gets gritty, and if you spill it, your whole house turns yellow.

Nettles contain vitamins C, D, and K and minerals such as iron, selenium, zinc, and magnesium. Even though it includes all those lovely ingredients, it, unfortunately, doesn't help its taste. The flavour of nettle tea is more or less what you'd imagine it to be. But I trained myself to like it. 

Every time I'd sip on it, I'd pretend I was a survival expert sitting by a campfire cross-legged. The irony is that I can barely get out of the bed in the morning; I'm so stiff.

Two weeks into my inner camp side fire ritual, I noticed I was going to the toilet a lot. I wasn't taking on extra liquids as I'd replaced the nettle tea with regular tea. It was a side effect that made it nearly impossible to drink it. I couldn't have it as a drink if I were on a Zoom call as I'd have to get up and spend a penny. But I did notice one massive benefit.

When I have tea or coffee, I always have a biscuit. It's almost impossible for me to have a cuppa without one. The best thing about the nettle tea was that sweet treats (especially my Tunnocks tea cakes) don't accompany it well. 

Biscuits taste disgusting alongside my new ditch stinging brew. I'm only going through one pack of Tunnocks per week now, and I've seen my belt loosen... a tiny bit. Who knew those annoying green leaves could do that!

But wait, there's more… wait until I tell you what its close cousin, the thistle, can do for you.