There is some preliminary evidence that nattokinase may have benefits for heart and artery health. A study shows that a nattokinase supplement reduces the risk of blood clots forming after long airplane flights. It can help reduce the narrowing of the arteries. Other studies show that nattokinase can help to lower blood pressure.
Seventy-three subjects completed the study and those who took nattokinase had a significant reduction in blood pressure. Antihypertensive effects of continuous oral administration of nattokinase and its fragments in spontaneously hypertensive rats. The nattokinase used throughout the study was administered orally in the form of tablets approved by the National Medical Products Administration of China (NMPA) and manufactured by Sungen Bioscience Co., Ltd, of Shantou (China). The enzyme responsible for natto's health effects, nattokinase, has since been purified and has been studied extensively.
Daily nattokinase supplementation may suppress the progression of atherosclerosis in people with atherosclerotic plaques. Not only that, volunteers who received nattokinase showed a significant reduction in total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C or “bad cholesterol”) and triglycerides (TG), while, at the same time, their levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C or “good cholesterol”) increased. Unlike other anticoagulants, such as aspirin, which only decrease the tendency to form blood clots, nattokinase acts on both sides of the coagulation cascade. Effects of nattokinase, a profibrinolytic enzyme, on red blood cell aggregation and whole blood viscosity Clin Hemorheol Microcirc.
Nattokinase (NK), the most active ingredient in natto with an alkaline protease of 275 amino acid residues, with a molecular weight of approximately 28 kDa, was first discovered by Sumi et al. In a 26-week study, 82 volunteers were randomly assigned to take 6000 fibrinolytic units (300 mg) of nattokinase a day. Nattokinase (NK), known as a potent fibrinolytic and antithrombotic agent, has been shown to have anti-atherosclerotic and lipid-lowering effects.
