Marco Lombardozzi

The Western world discovered soy about 60 years ago, when the first oriental restaurants opened in our cities and, with them, the use of soy for food.

Since then, much progress has been made and, in addition to the increasingly refined culinary creations based on this legume, the medical world has also studied and researched therapeutic properties based on soy. At the moment, one research above all seems to emerge in an important way in the paradigms of medical therapy and it is Nattokinase (NKase), extracted from fermented soy.

It is extracted from natto, a Japanese food produced by fermenting soybeans in the presence of Bacillus subtilis.

NKase directly degrades fibrin by proteolysis and activates the production of tPA, (the tissue plasminogen activator which leads to the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin) by inactivating PAL-1 (the type I inhibitor of plasminogen activator).

Several scientific works (Ero et al. 2013; Weng Y. et al. 2017; Dan Feng Li et al. 2022) on the pharmacokinetics of oral intake of NKase indicate that this protein is degraded by gastric enzymes (therefore the use of gastro-resistant capsules is necessary) and although the discovery of nattokinase dates back to 1987, the in vitro and in vivo scientific studies concerning it are still very numerous and are proposing important insights both on the activities already known as well as for the exploration of application fields that are currently little considered but which could have interesting developments in the future (Dan Feng Li et al. 2022).

In a large study, Takagaki et al. 2020 found that combining NKase with unsaturated fatty acids (linoleic acid, DHA, EPA) improved its fibrinolytic activity.

Authoritative studies and clinical trials (Chen H. et al. 2018, 2022; Jensen G. et al. 2016)

They also demonstrated the usefulness of NKase for the maintenance of

cardiovascular health with antiatherosclerotic, lipid-lowering and hypotensive effects. In the latter case, it is hypothesized that the mechanism of action involves the renin-angiotensin system and that NKase does not act on ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) like hypotensive drugs, but on renin.

Furthermore, after the recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the work of some Japanese researchers takes on great importance. In fact, Marni Oba et al. in 2021 provided for the first time evidence that natto extract contains one or more proteases that inhibit some infections caused by viruses through the proteolysis of the viral proteins themselves.

Subsequently, Tanikawa T. et al. 2022, using cell lysates transfected with the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 as a culture medium, demonstrated that during incubation with NKase, the Spike protein is degraded in a manner directly dependent on dose and time. To obtain its antithrombotic and fibrinolytic effect, it is recommended to take 2000/2500 FU/day.

If you want to be updated on the latest news, sign up for the newsletter