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Nattokinase - Blood Clot Dissolver

"We have finally found a potent natural agent that can thin and dissolve clots effectively, with relative safety and without side effects."  
-Dr. Martin Milner, Center for Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon

Every tissue in your body relies on your heart to circulate blood through all the blood vessels in your body in order to deliver nutrients and clear waste. Nattokinase has been shown to support healthy blood flow by assisting an aging circulatory clearing system.

Nattokinase is a potent fibrinolytic enzyme extracted and highly purified from a traditional Japanese food called natto. Natto has been used in Japanese culture for over 1000 years for its popular taste and as a folk remedy for heart and vascular diseases.

Natto closely mimics plasmin, an enzyme in the body that destroys blood clots. Blood clots (thrombi) are clumps of a naturally-occurring protein called fibrin which can accumulate in a blood vessel. This is an important and protective mechanism that protects the body from excessive bleeding from an injury. However, in many instances, this process becomes over-activated. This dysregulation of clotting has been implicated in cardiovascular disease.

Research has shown nattokinase supports the body in breaking up and dissolving the unhealthy coagulation of blood. Nattokinase doesn't inhibit blood clot formation; it actually works to support healthy circulation by assisting the fibrinolytic blood clearing system, which breaks down cross-linked fibrin protein deposits in the blood.

Dr. Hiroyuki Sumi, a researcher of the Japan Ministry of Education, majoring in physiological chemistry at the blood laboratory of the University of Chicago, had long researched thrombolytic enzymes. While doing research work at the University of Chicago's Medical School, Dr. Sumi tested about 200 kinds of food, including several types of liquors, from all over the world in search of natural substance that could dissolve and even prevent blood clots. He found that natto had the highest fibrinolytic activity among all those foods tested. Dr. Sumi extracted the fibrinolytic enzyme in natto and named it "Nattokinase." Presenting the results of his research in Japan in 1986, Dr. Sumi commented that Nattokinase showed "a potency matched by no other enzyme."

HUMAN TRIALS

Nattokinase has been the subject of 17 studies, including two small human trials. Researchers from Oklahoma State University, JCR Pharmaceuticals of Kobe, Japan, and Miyazaki Medical College in Miyazaki, Japan tested nattokinase on 12 healthy Japanese volunteers (6 men and 6 women, between the ages of 21 and 55). They gave the volunteers 200 grams of natto (the food) before breakfast, then tracked fibrinolytic activity through a series of blood plasma tests. The tests indicated that the natto generated a heightened ability to dissolve blood clots. On average, the volunteers' ELT (a measure of how long it takes to dissolve a blood clot) dropped by 48% within two hours of treatment, and volunteers retained an enhanced ability to dissolve blood clots for 2 to 8 hours. An additional study showed an 11% decrease in blood pressure after just two weeks.

Dr. Martin Milner of the Center for Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon, is enthusiastic about the clinical use of natto: "Natto and nattokinase represent the most exciting new development in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular-related diseases that I have come across in my career."  

ANIMAL TRIALS

Currently, Nattokinase has been the subject of 17 research studies, including two small human trials. In one such study, Dr. Sumi and his colleagues induced blood clots in male dogs, then orally administered either four capsules of Nattokinase (250 mg per capsule) or four placebo capsules to each dog. Angiograms (X-rays of blood vessels) revealed that the dogs who received Nattokinase regained normal blood circulation (free of the clot) within five hours of treatment. Blood clots in the dogs who received only placebo showed no sign of dissolving in the 18 hours following treatment.

The results obtained suggest that nattokinase represents a possible drug for use not only in the treatment of, but also in the prevention of embolism, since nattokinase has a proven safety and can be mass produced.

Researchers from Biotechnology Research Laboratories and JCR Pharmaceuticals Co. tested Nattokinase's ability to dissolve a thrombus in the carotid arteries of rats. Animals treated with Nattokinase regained 62% of blood flow, whereas those treated with plasmin regained just 15.8% of blood flow.