What is Nattokinase?
Nattokinase is an enzyme that has fibrinolytic or in other words anti-clotting properties. It’s obtained from a traditional Japanese delicacy called Natto. This dish is 1000 years old and had been used as a natural remedy for heart and vascular ailments for centuries. It is made from boiled soybeans fermented with the help of bacteria Bacillus
subtilis natto. After fermentation what you get is a cheese-like smell, nutty and salty flavor sticky substance.
It has been researched to show that Nattokinase helps our body break up and dissolve the harmful blood clot. It has shown to contain four times greater anti-clotting action than plasmin.
How is Nattokinase made?
Natto is boiled soybeans fermented with the bacteria Bacillus subtilis. This is what makes it so distinctive against other soy foods which also contain enzymes however only the natto recipe has this specific Nattokinase enzyme.
Who discovered Nattokinase?
It was Japanese researcher Dr. Hiroyuki Sumi who discovered this amazing enzyme. He had spent years looking for a natural thrombolytic agent that would be able to successfully break up blood clots that caused heart attacks and stroke. The final breakthrough came in 1980 when Dr Hiroyuki Sumi found the natural solution.
Dr Sumi used Natto in his experiment by placing it onto an artificial thrombus in a petri dish and leaving it at 37ºC to simulate body temperature. The next 18 hours proved crucial and the thrombus around Natto completely went away. It was named Nattokinase which meant “the enzyme in natto.” It was recorded that Nattokinase demonstrated strength no other enzyme could match.