The dietary potential of the common nettle
Abstract
A leaf protein concentrate prepared from the young leaves of the common nettle (Urtica dioica) failed to support normal growth in young rats; supplementation with methionine produced a protein efficiency ratio greater than that of casein. A nettle leaf wholemeal, providing 66% of the dietary protein, supported normal growth in young guinea-pigs, mice and rats. Chicks receiving the whole nettle meal as their sole dietary protein grew at only half the rate of chicks given a standard commercial diet. A nettle meal-induced hypercholesterolaemia in mature guinea-pigs and kidney hypertrophy in mice and guinea-pigs should perhaps be interpreted as a caution against the indiscriminate introduction of nettles into the human diet.
- Publication:
-
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
- Pub Date:
- December 1980
- DOI:
- 10.1002/jsfa.2740311210
- Bibcode:
- 1980JSFA...31.1279H