Prairie Naturals - Nattokinase

Product Notes:

Nattokinase is a sterling example of how fermentation can produce functional food ingredients that are more than the sum of their parts. It's derived by Natto, a Japanese dish prepared by first boiling soy beans and then fermenting them with Bacillus subtilis, a a soil-based bacteria found both in certain grasses and our own GI tracts. This not only makes the soy easier to digest, but also enhances its nutritional value and produces certain useful by-products that weren't in the original soy: particularly, Nattokinase.

Nattokinase is a potent enzyme: specifically, a Serine protease, i.e., one that can cleave peptide bonds in proteins. However, unlike digestive enzymes like Trypsin whose primary targets are the proteins we eat, Nattokinase's is “fibrin,” an insoluble protein which gets generated from our blood blood plasma as a mesh (sort of like a spider's web), to form blood clots. Animal and lab studies have shown that Nattokinase can degrade fibrin (which is why standardized doses of it are literally measured in Fibrin Degradation Units) to the extent that it can not only help prevent blood clots from occurring in the first place but also help dissolve ones that are already there. Since blood clots are a major risk factor for serious cardiovascular conditions such as strokes and heart attacks, there is obviously a great deal of interest in a relatively safe natural product like this which could help limit their occurrence.

In addition to helping protect our hearts and brains (and lungs [pulmonary embolism], and extremities [deep vein thrombosis]), from migrating blood clots, Nattokinase may be able to help protect the blood vessels themselves from developing not only blood clots but also plaque, as some studies indicate it may be able to help lower LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, to help improve blood flow.

Nattokinase is also being studied for its ability to reduce inflammation, both for age-independent conditions such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBS) and age-related ones (now often characterized as “inflamm-aging”) such as Alzheimer's (by degrading another type of plaque, from β-Amyloid peptides).