Urtica dioica L., commonly known as “stinging nettle”, is a wild, unique herbaceous flowering plant
that has been of use as a food as well as a medicinal herb for a variety of diseases centuries ago. This
paper presents determination of Fe content in samples Urtica dioica L. collected from five localities
in Serbia. The sample preparation procedure involved dry digestion in triplicate and dissolution of
the ash in 6M HCl and then in 0.1 M HNO3. The determinations of Fe content in the leaves have been
performed by using spectrophotometry. Samples of nettle leaves showed the concentration of Fe in
the range from 171.81 ± 9.75 mg/kg to 382.69 ± 20.25 mg/kg dry weight. The obtained values were
compared with data available from literature. Finally, the content of Fe in samples were used to
calculate the daily intake of Fe (EDI), and the target hazard quotients (THQ) values and contribution
to daily intake of Fe for adult by consuming herbal tea of the tested stinging nettle.
