Nattokinase
Natural Remedy for High Blood Pressure
Nattokinase, a blood clot-dissolving enzyme derived from the traditional Japanese cultured
soybean food natto, is another smart heart and circulatory supplement. In order to understand
why Nattokinase is so important, let's review what we know about the clotting substance fibrin.
Florin is the protein that forms in the blood upon trauma and injury. Fibrin is required to stop
excess blood loss. Some twenty different enzymes in the body, in fact, contribute to the ability
of blood to clot. However, it is primarily plasmin alone that breaks down blood dots. While clotting
is necessary, inflammatory conditions in the bloodstream that result from injury and trauma to
the blood vessels or systemic infections can contribute to abnormal clotting tendencies and the deposition
of fibrin-filled plaque in the walls of the arteries or in the bloodstream.
In the worst-case scenario, such clots can lead to a heart attack or a stroke. More commonly, excess
clotting leads to thicker blood (viscosity), slowing blood flow and raising blood pressure. Nattokinase
acts in various ways to reduce abnormal clotting, including preventing clots and breaking them up. Dr.
Martin Milner of the Center for Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon and Dr. Kouhei Makise of the Imadeqawa
Makise Clinic in Kyoto, Japan, have jointly researched Nattokinase and written extensively on their findings.
"In all my years of research as a professor of cardiovascular and pulmonary medicine, natto and Nattokinase
represent the most exciting new development in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular related diseases,
" says Dr. Milner: "We have finally found a potent natural agent that can thin and dissolve clots effectively,
with relative safety and without side effects."
Recent Findings Support
Blood Pressure-lowering Effect
Most recently, in the March 2003 issue of Nutrition, we learn of yet another way that Nattokinase protects
blood flow. At the Department of Pharmacology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka, Japan, researchers
investigated the effect of dietary supplementation with Nattokinase on internal thickening of arteries after they
were artificially damaged by administration of a chemical toxin and focused radiation.
Supplementation with Nattokinase significantly suppressed intimal thickening of the arteries, suggesting that
thrombolytic activities were highly enhanced. "These findings suggest that natto extracts, because of their thrombolytic
activity, suppress intimal thickening after vascular injury " Thus, we see that Nattokinase>. helps to maintain
healthy arterial function. In an earlier study from Japan, researchers discovered that Nattokinase directly lowers blood
pressure. Among human volunteers with pre-existing high blood pressure, oral administration for four consecutive days
led to significant decreases in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The average values decreased from 173.8 mm
Hg to 154.8 mm Hg for systolic blood pressure and from 101.0 mm Hg to 91.2 mm Hg for their diastolic readings. This study
shows a 10.9 percent drop in systolic and 9.7 percent drop in diastolic blood pressure. At least 17 studies have now
examined Nattokinase. The overal1 results indicate that Nattokinase truly heightens the ability to dissolve blood clots
and protects the arteries. In essence, the blood's ability to dissolve clots is highly enhanced for up to eight hours
after being administered Nattokinase. Nattokinase is an important heart and circulatory health supplement.
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