Nettle Leaf
Urtica dioica
Nettle leaf is a mineral-rich traditional herb with a mild diuretic reputation and a real human trial record on blood glucose, and AlphaCleanse contains 27.5 mg of it per serving as a supporting botanical.
AlphaCleanse, 2-capsule serving
- Milk Thistle165 mg
- Spirulina110 mg
- Ginger110 mg
- Turmeric110 mg
- Dandelion Root55 mg
- Reishi MushroomReishi55 mg
- Beetroot55 mg
- Burdock Root27.5 mg
- Rhubarb Root27.5 mg
- Schisandra BerrySchisandra27.5 mg
- Nettle Leaf27.5 mg
- BioPerine2.75 mg
Every amount is printed on the label. No proprietary blend.
Nettle leaf comes from Urtica dioica, the stinging nettle that grows in temperate regions worldwide.
The sting comes from tiny hairs on the fresh leaf that inject histamine and acetylcholine into skin. Processing and cooking destroy them, which is why nettle has been eaten as a soup green for centuries.
The leaf carries polyphenols along with vitamins and minerals.
One distinction matters more than any other on this page. Most of the well-known nettle research is on the root, used for urinary symptoms, while AlphaCleanse contains the leaf.
The leaf has a randomised trial record of its own and the best liver safety rating on this panel, an E from the NIH LiverTox database.
How much is in AlphaCleanse
In short: AlphaCleanse contains 27.5 mg of nettle leaf per 2-capsule serving, 1 of the 4 smallest amounts on its 12-ingredient panel.
27.5 mg of nettle leaf per 2-capsule serving.
That ties it with burdock root, rhubarb root and schisandra berry as one of the 4 smallest botanicals among the 12 ingredients.
Only BioPerine at 2.75 mg is lower, and milk thistle at 165 mg is the largest.
AlphaCleanse is made with organic ingredients, has no proprietary blend, and prints all 12 amounts on the Supplement Facts panel.
What the evidence shows
In short: nettle leaf's best human trial was on blood sugar at 1,500 mg a day, roughly 55 times the amount in AlphaCleanse.
The strongest human trial on nettle leaf is about blood sugar rather than the liver.
Kianbakht et al. (Clinical Laboratory, 2013, PMID 24273930) ran a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial in 92 people with advanced type 2 diabetes who needed insulin. The design:
- Nettle leaf extract, one 500 mg capsule every 8 hours, a total of 1,500 mg a day, or placebo.
- 3 months, on top of their usual oral glucose-lowering drugs.
- Fasting glucose, 2-hour postprandial glucose and HbA1c all fell significantly against placebo.
- Creatinine, blood pressure and the liver enzymes SGOT and SGPT were also measured, and none of them changed significantly.
A 2022 systematic review and meta-analysis of Ayurvedic medicines in type 2 diabetes (Chattopadhyay et al., Frontiers in Pharmacology, PMID 35754481) pooled 199 randomised trials covering 21,191 participants.
It found Urtica dioica associated with a 1.3% reduction in HbA1c, 95% CI -2.4 to -0.2.
The authors were blunt that methodology was poorly reported across the included studies and quality scoring was correspondingly low.
For other uses the picture is weaker.
NCCIH says there is "some limited evidence" that Urtica dioica may improve some symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia, and that for seasonal allergy the evidence is "either inconsistent or too limited to show whether these products are helpful".
No human trial has tested nettle leaf for liver outcomes.
Our 27.5 mg is under 2% of the 1,500 mg a day used in the diabetes trial, which is arithmetic our printed panel lets you do and a blend total would not.
It also places nettle leaf on this label for breadth and for its safety record rather than for any blood sugar effect.
The ingredient carrying the clinical weight here is milk thistle at 165 mg, and its evidence has a page of its own.
Why this dose
In short: 27.5 mg is a supporting amount, and at 2% of the trial dose we expect no blood sugar effect from it.
27.5 mg is a supporting amount rather than a clinical dose, and no nettle trial has tested anything close to it.
That cuts in a useful direction for anyone on medication.
At roughly 2% of the trial dose we do not expect 27.5 mg of nettle leaf to move blood sugar, which is why we tell people taking glucose-lowering drugs that no additive effect is expected, and why we claim no glucose benefit for AlphaCleanse.
One answer buys the other.
The formula is built as an anchor with support around it.
Milk thistle at 165 mg carries the clinical weight. The other 11 ingredients, nettle leaf included, widen the range of plant material at amounts printed one at a time on the panel.
Nettle earns its place partly on its record: LiverTox scores stinging nettle E, an unlikely cause of clinically apparent liver injury, which is the strongest liver-safety line on this label.
Set that against a liver formula that lists nettle inside a proprietary blend, where you can check neither the amount nor which part of the plant it came from.
Safety and interactions
In short: nettle leaf has the best liver safety record on this panel, a LiverTox likelihood score of E.
Nettle leaf has the cleanest liver safety record of anything on this panel.
The NIH LiverTox database entry for stinging nettle (NBK589898) gives it a likelihood score of E, meaning an unlikely cause of clinically apparent liver injury. What LiverTox states:
- Across multiple short and long-term clinical trials of nettle preparations, adverse effects were uncommon and minimal.
- The trials that monitored liver tests reported no change in serum aminotransferase levels.
- Despite widespread use there have been no published reports of enzyme elevations or clinically apparent liver injury attributable to nettle root or leaf.
The Kianbakht trial adds a data point in the same direction: 1,500 mg a day for 3 months, with SGOT and SGPT measured and unchanged.
Side effects. NCCIH describes Urtica dioica as generally well tolerated in clinical trials and notes it may produce mild gastrointestinal effects.
Iron. NCCIH also notes that nettle contains tannins, which can interact with iron taken at the same time and reduce its effect in people who need iron supplements.
If you take iron, space it away from AlphaCleanse.
Glucose-lowering medication. At trial doses nettle leaf lowered glucose in people already on insulin and oral agents.
At 27.5 mg we do not expect an additive effect, and no ingredient on this panel is a known glucose-lowering agent at these amounts.
Fatty liver and blood sugar tend to be managed together, so tell your doctor you are taking it.
The 12-week AlphaCleanse study (NCT07738744) excluded people with uncontrolled diabetes, which corroborates the caution rather than showing that anything went wrong.
Diuretics and lithium. Nettle leaf, dandelion root at 55 mg and burdock root at 27.5 mg all have mild diuretic activity in traditional use.
At these amounts the effect should be small, but if you take a diuretic, a potassium-sparing drug or lithium, raise it with your doctor before starting.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding. Do not take AlphaCleanse if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to conceive.
There is no safety data for nettle in this group, and the decisive reason sits elsewhere on the panel: rhubarb root is a stimulant laxative contraindicated in pregnancy and lactation by the European Medicines Agency.
The clinical study excluded this group.
Common questions
In short: we claim no glucose benefit and no prostate benefit from the 27.5 mg of nettle leaf in AlphaCleanse.
Can I take AlphaCleanse with metformin or other diabetes medication?
Mention it to your doctor, then most likely yes.
Nothing in the 12 ingredients is a known glucose-lowering agent at the amounts on our label, so no additive drop in blood sugar is expected.
The reason nettle comes up at all is that at 1,500 mg a day, roughly 55 times our amount, nettle leaf extract lowered fasting glucose and HbA1c in a randomised trial of people already on insulin.
Our 27.5 mg is not that dose.
Raise it anyway, because fatty liver and blood sugar are usually managed together and your doctor should have the full list.
Is 27.5 mg of nettle leaf too low to do anything?
It is a supporting amount and we describe it that way rather than claiming a clinical effect.
The trial evidence for nettle leaf sits at 1,500 mg a day, and 27.5 mg is under 2% of that.
The larger amounts on the AlphaCleanse panel are milk thistle at 165 mg and spirulina, ginger and turmeric at 110 mg each; the 4 botanicals at 27.5 mg are there for breadth around that anchor.
We print every amount on the label, and the plant part alongside it, so you can run this comparison yourself instead of trusting our summary of it.
Will the nettle in AlphaCleanse help my prostate?
No, and we would not sell it to you on that basis.
The nettle research on urinary symptoms and benign prostatic hyperplasia uses nettle root, and NCCIH calls even that evidence limited.
AlphaCleanse contains nettle leaf, a different plant part with a different constituent profile, at 27.5 mg, and AlphaCleanse is a liver-support formula rather than a prostate one.
Urinary symptoms in men over 45 deserve a proper look from a doctor rather than a supplement of any kind.
If liver support is what you came for, the panel to read is the one with milk thistle at 165 mg printed at the top of it.
Is nettle leaf hard on the liver?
It has the best record on this panel.
The NIH LiverTox database scores stinging nettle E, an unlikely cause of clinically apparent liver injury, and states there have been no published reports of enzyme elevations or clinically apparent injury attributed to nettle root or leaf despite widespread use.
In the 3-month trial at 1,500 mg a day, SGOT and SGPT were measured and did not change.
You can read the entry yourself at NIH LiverTox, accession NBK589898.
It is a free NIH database that scores botanical ingredients whether or not a brand mentions them, which makes it a quick way to check any supplement you are weighing up.
The other 11 ingredients
AlphaCleanse contains nettle leaf at 27.5 mg per serving.
See AlphaCleanse60-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked, no restocking fee.
Citations on this page: PMID 24273930, PMID 35754481
Last reviewed: 2026-09-17