By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, April 21, 2009, abstracted from “Nattokinase decreases plasma levels of fibrinogen, factor VII, and factor VIII in human subjects” in the April 2009 issue of Nutrition Research

Natto, a fermented food made from boiled soybeans, has been eaten for more than 1000 years in Asia. Within Natto is an enzyme called Nattokinase (1) that has been found to help break down blood clots (2)and help maintain blood vessel health after trauma (3). It is also used as a supplement to help improve circulation (4) and to benefit mental health (5).

Now a new study (6) has found that Nattokinase may help heart health by affecting how our blood clotting proteins function. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) affects nearly 81 million Americans (7) and is estimated to cost our healthcare system $448.5 billion in 2008 (8).

In the study, researchers assigned 45 patients between the ages of 20 and 70 (average age of 56) into one of the following groups:

Group 1: The Healthy Group (no CVD risk factors and healthy kidney function)
Group 2: The Cardiovascular Group (patients with any one type of CVD such as coronary artery disease, peripheral arterial occlusive disease, history of stroke, transient ischemic attack (mini-strokes), pulmonary embolism, or deep vein thrombosis)
Group 3: The Dialysis Group (Patients undergoing regular dialysis at the same institute for at least 3 months)

They were then given 800 mg of nattokinase per day (two 400-mg capsules 30 minutes after dinner) or placebo for 8 weeks.

The patients provided blood samples 3 times (before the study and at weeks 4 and 8). The researchers looked at total cholesterol, LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, HDL (“good”) cholesterol, and triglycerides. They also looked at three blood clotting proteins: fibrinogen, factor VII and factor VIII factor which are “strong, consistent, and independent risk factors” for CVD (9, 10, 11).

By the end of 8 weeks, treatment with nattokinase decreased fibrinogen by 9.1% (335 to 304.6 mg/dL), 6.7% (376.2 to 350.9 mg/dL), and 9.8% (433.5 to 391.0 mg/dL) in the healthy, cardiovascular, and dialysis groups, respectively. Factor VII saw decreases in the nattokinase group of 14.2% (122.5 to 105.1 IU), 12.5% (139.7 to 122.3 IU), and 7.4% (154.8 to 143.4 IU), respectively. Finally, factor VIII saw decreases of 16.7% (106.1 to 88.3 IU), 19% (156.7 to 127.0 IU), and 18.9% (236.3 to 191.7 IU), respectively. No significant changes were seen in total, LDL, or HDL cholesterol except for the cardiovascular group which saw a 6.5% decrease in total cholesterol (201.5 to 188.3 mg/dL).

For the researchers, “Nattokinase administration was safe and in healthy volunteers, patients with high-risk CVD factors, and dialysis patients. These results support our hypothesis that oral administration of nattokinase would have a beneficial action on risk factors associated with CVD.”

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at mailto:PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site atwww.CompleteChiropracticHealthcare.com

Reference:
1. Ruei-Lin H. Amyloid-Degrading Ability of Nattokinase from Bacillus subtilis Natto. J. Agric. Food Chem., 2009, 57 (2), pp 503–508
2. Peng, Y. Microbial fibrinolytic enzymes: an overview of source, production, properties, and thrombolytic activity in vivo Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 2005 69 126 132
3. Fujita, M. Thrombolytic effect of nattokinase on a chemically induced thrombosis model in rat Biol. Pharm. Bull. 1995 18 1387 1391
4. Suzuki Y. Umemura, K. Dietary supplementation of fermented soybean, natto, suppresses intimal thickening and modulates the lysis of mural thrombi after endothelial injury in rat femoral artery Life Sci. 2003 73 1289 1298
5. “Fatty food a potential risk factor for Alzheimer's” posted November 28, 2008 on the Karolinska Institute Website http://ki.se/ki/jsp/polopoly.jsp?a=65984&d=2323&l=en
6. “Cardiovascular Disease Statistics” posted on www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4478
7. “Cardiovascular Disease Cost” posted on www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4475
8. Chien-Hsun H. Nattokinase decreases plasma levels of fibrinogen, factor VII, and factor VIII in human subjects. Nutr Res 2009; 29(3):190-196
9. W.B. Kannel, Overview of hemostatic factors involved in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, Lipids 40 (2005), pp. 1215–1220
10. M. Cushman, D. Yanez, B.M. Psaty, L.P. Fried, G. Heiss and M. Lee et al., Association of fibrinogen and coagulation factors VII and VIII with cardiovascular risk factors in the elderly: the Cardiovascular Health Study. Cardiovascular Health Study Investigators, Am J Epidemiol 143 (1996), pp. 665–676
11. P.W. Kamphuisen, J.C. Eikenboom and R.M. Bertina, Elevated factor VIII levels and the risk of thrombosis, Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 21 (2001), pp. 731–738