• Question: does stinging nettle poison ever get out of your body?

    Asked by flash18 to Lyn, Paul, PB on 27 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Paul Waines

      Paul Waines answered on 27 Jun 2013:


      Hi flash18- thanks for your question

      yes it does- thankfully when we get stung our body has ways of dealing with the poisons that cause us the pain.

      With stinging nettles, no-one knows what their poison actually contains, but scientists do know that it contains an acid which is the same one that wood ants have. It also contains a chemical called a histamine, and this is what causes the lumpiness when you get stung.

      Our immune system is good at dealing with most things, and after a very short time, these poisons will be gone so don’t worry- but don’t go rolling around in any!

    • Photo: Ee Lyn Lim

      Ee Lyn Lim answered on 28 Jun 2013:


      Oh yes – our bodies are very good at getting rid of nasty toxins – as long as the toxin doesn’t kill you first!

      In the case of stinging nettle, or other poisonous things that get in through the skin, the inflammation caused by the toxin in the area of the sting will attract immune cells to the area. Some of these immune cells will then drink up this toxin and scurry back to the nearest immune system outpost, which are the lymph nodes. There, it will present this toxin on its surface, so that other types of immune cells can feel what it looks like – then the correct antibody will be produced in large amounts, flowing through the blood to where the sting is, so that all the toxin is mopped up by the antibodies and won’t cause any more damage to your cells.

      So what happens to all that toxin that’s now stuck to a bunch of antibodies? When they flow through the blood to the liver, the blood gets ‘cleansed’ – that means liver cells will pick up all these clumps of protein that shouldn’t be there. Once they are taken up into liver cells they will get broken down into useless little bits of protein, which will then either be recycled to build your own cells, or excreted in your urine!

Comments