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                                                        Nattokinase to Reverse Atherosclerosis

Nattokinase (NK), at a dose of 300 mg (6000 Fibrin Units or 3/32 tsp.) two times a day will:
A. Decrease carotid arterial plaque area (by up to 36%) within one year.
B. Regress carotid artery intima-media-thickness (1.33 to 1.04 mm in one study).
C. Protect against lower extremity venous clot (DVT) formation.
D. Lowers LDL (18%) and triglycerides (16%) and raises HDL (16%).
E. Improve clinical outcome following ischemic stroke.
F. Lowers BP slightly (» 10%).
G. Provide benefit in chronic venous insufficiency.

 

Benefits in animal models that should apply to humans:
A. Dissolves (experimental) arterial and venous clots (not in minutes but within hours).
B. Decreases oxidative/inflammatory stress, with less cell loss and enhanced recovery, following stroke (and presumably with any other occlusive arterial event).
C. Decreases risk of clot formation and mitigates organ damage in infection.
D. Protection against Alzheimer’s.
E. Protection against proliferative retinopathy.
F. Decreases damage and enhances recovery with gamma irradiation or toxin exposure.

 

The clinical effects occur on the basis of NK’s physiologic effects:
A. Fibrinolytic and Anti-Thrombotic– NK dissolves fibrin clot and fibrinogen (fibrin precursor).
B. Blood viscosity and RBC aggregation decreases (your blood turns from catsup to wine-like).
C. Improves endothelial function and attenuates endothelial thickening after arterial injury.
D. Antioxidant (protection against lipid peroxidation) and tissue oxidative stress.
E. Anti-platelet effect (limits thromboxane A2 release).
F. Neuroprotective effect (degrades amyloid fibrils and promotes neurogenesis).
G. Degrades the Covid spike protein.
H. Blunts angiotensin II generation.
I.  Degrades HMG Co-A Reductase.
J. Attenuates inflammatory and oxidative stress:  Blocks the TLR4 ®NF-kβ & MAPK and NLRP3 ® Il-1β, Il-6, and TNFα cascades while enhancing the restorative NRF-2 ® HO-1 cascade.
K. Modifies apoptosis (cell suicide) and protects against necroptosis (cell death).

Dosing:
A. 50 mg (1000 Fibrin Units) protects against DVT but does not affect atherosclerosis.
B. 200 mg (4000 FUs) three times a day or 300 mg (6000 FUs) twice a day will.
C. Take ≥ 30” before protein containing meals (the NK could get used up digesting the protein).
D. If weight < 125 lbs. take 150 mg twice a day.

 

Risk and Concerns:
A. Two case reports of abnormal bleeding due to NK.
B. Hold NK when you need to be a good clotter (trauma, nose bleed, 2 days pre-surgery).
C. Aspirin synergizes with NK and does not increase bleeding risk.
D. We have no studies documenting safety (wrt bleeding risk) of NK taken along with Warfarin, oral anti-coagulants, or anti-platelet drugs (all of which are associated with bleeding risk).
E. In animals, doses up to 100 mg/kg/day (7,000 mg/day in a 70 kg adult) without toxicity.
F. Doses up to 10 mg/kg (700 mg/day in adult) without any toxicity in human trials.

Logistics:
A. Obtain NK from purebulk.com (powder form) or Allergy Research Group (capsules).
B. NK will digest protein so take at least 30” or 2 hours post-meals.
C. NK can be taken with amino acids, including glycine and NAC within the GlyNAC protocol, and non-protein supplements or pharmaceuticals.
D. Aspirin 81 mg and Vit K2 synergize with NK wrt plaque regression.
E. Effects begin » 4-6 hours and last » 8-12 (thus this is not a once-a-day agent).
F. Whie NK is obtained from soybean fermented with B. subtilis, there is no soy protein in NK.
G. Cost should be » 50 cents/day (from purebulk).

 

What does Dr. Roberts take?
Nattokinase 300 mg (3/32 tsp) + N-Acetylcysteine (4000 mg) + Glycine 4000 mg (1 tsp of each) twice a day in juice.

Key study:  Observation of the efficacy of nattokinase in patients with carotid atherosclerosis and hyperlipidemia. Ren, H, et. al. Chinese Medical Journal 2017.  doi: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0376-2491.2017.26.005.

Ren and colleagues randomized 82 subjects to NK 3,000 FU (150 mg) twice a day or Simvastatin 20 mg once a day.  At one year, Simvastatin had a stronger LDL-lowering effect
(- 27 % vs. - 13% with NK), while NK decreased carotid plaque area from 0.25 to 0.16 cm²
(- 36% vs. - 12% with statin) and reversed CIMT from 1.13 to 1.01 mm (- 11%) vs from 1.12 to 1.07 (-5%) with statin.  Of note, treatment-induced LDL reduction did not corelate with the degree of plaque or IMT reduction. Side-effects did not occur.