Nattokinase the Natural Alternative to Harmful Prescription Blood Thinners

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I find it shocking that one of the most prescribed blood thinning drugs ever has the same main ingredient as rat poison!

Turning a rat poison into a widely used drug for humans is not the only irregular thing about Warfarin. Its path to become one of the most frequently used prescription-only anticoagulants was paved by an unusual series of events too.

Warfarin: Rats to riches...

In 1951, a navy recruit unsuccessfully attempted suicide by taking rat poison - 500mg of warfarin - used as rat poison at that time. The dosage was not enough to kill the young man and he made a full recovery.

This led to research into the potential use of warfarin instead of dicoumarol (a potent anticoagulant that acts by inhibiting the synthesis of vitamin K-dependent clotting factors) in humans. Dicoumarol, ironically, also started out as a rodenticide but was ineffective. Uncannily, its main ingredient is exactly the same as that of warfarin: coumarin.

The rat poison turned drug was introduced commercially as a human anticoagulant – warfarin - in 1954. Apart from being the most widely used rodenticide in the world today, warfarin is also listed as the 11th most prescribed pharmaceutical drug with annual sales exceeding $500 million.

In humans, warfarin is used to prevent and treat harmful blood clots. This medication helps to keep blood flowing smoothly by decreasing the amount of clotting proteins in the blood.

Warfarin: Side effects

Where does one start? If you read through the list of the potential dangerous side effects of warfarin, all you really want to do is run for the hills.

According to the website drugs.com, these are just some of the side effects you may experience when taking this drug:

* Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue)
* back, side, muscle, joint, or stomach pain;
* black, tarry, or bloody stools;
* blood in the urine (pink or brown urine);
* bloody or coffee ground-like vomit;
* fainting;
* purple, dark, or painful toes;
* stroke symptoms (e.g. confusion, slurred speech, vision problems, one-sided weakness) and
* unusual bruising or bleeding (e.g. nosebleed, unusual bleeding from gums, increased bleeding from cuts, increased menstrual or vaginal bleeding, coughing up blood, bleeding at the injection site)

The list goes on and the side effects get worse. Also mentioned is the fact that this medication can cause birth defects in an unborn baby and fatal or nonfatal haemorrhage from any tissue or organ...

Oh, and then there’s interactions with other prescription drugs like acetaminophen (Tylenol), aspirin, or any non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as well as natural supplements like bromelain, coenzyme Q10, garlic, ginkgo biloba, ginseng and St. John's wort.

You should also avoid the following foods when taking warfarin: liver, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, spinach, Swiss chard, coriander, collards, cabbage, and other green leafy vegetables. Avoid eating cranberries, drinking cranberry juice, or taking cranberry herbal products.

In fact, the information on warfarin is so disheartening that once you know this prescription drug is also used to kill rats, you can’t help but wonder if that’s what it’s ultimately slowly doing to humans taking it too...

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Natto closely mimics an enzyme in the body that destroys blood clots

Luckily, the Daily Health is ready to serve you an all-natural alternative which has no side effects and probably won’t do any harm to rats either.

A potent chemical found in natto, a fermented soya bean product, may hold the key to conquering heart disease - which remains the biggest killer in the West. This has lead to the development of a natural remedy called Nattokinase, which has the ability to dissolve harmful blood clots implicated in heart disease and strokes. It can also lower blood-pressure.

More than 20 years ago, Dr Hiroyuki Sumi, a Japanese researcher at Chicago University, and his team of researchers embarked on an ambitious project to search for a natural substance that might dissolve blood clots. Eventually the researchers isolated an enzyme in natto (derived from a process of fermentation involving soya beans and a beneficial bacteria called Bacillus natto).

They found that this enzyme had the ability not only to dissolve blood clots quickly and efficiently but also prevented them from forming in the first place. Dr Sumi named the enzyme ‘nattokinase’ (which means ‘enzyme in natto’).

Given the harmful side effects of warfarin, a safer, natural alternative like nattokinase will most definitely be welcomed by many people trying to prevent and treat blood clots.

Blood clots destroyed in just under 18 hours

Dr Sumi has demonstrated that when nattokinase is dropped onto an artificial blood clot and left to stand at body temperature, the clot gradually dissolves and disappears completely within 18 hours. Dr Sumi said that it showed “a potency matched by no other enzyme.”

In human trials, tests confirmed that natto generated a heightened ability to dissolve blood clots.

In addition to its anti-clotting factors, nattokinase has been found to reduce blood pressure. It contains substances that inhibit a naturally-occurring enzyme that causes blood vessels to narrow and blood pressure to rise.

In studies undertaken by the Miyazaki Medical College and the Kurashiki University of Science and Arts in Japan, five patients with high blood pressure each took nattokinase equal to 200 grams of natto for four days. In four out of the five volunteers, systolic blood pressure fell on average by almost 11 per cent and diastolic blood pressure dropped by an average of about 10 per cent.

Nattokinase remains active in the body for 8 to 12 hours. It not only dissolves existing blood clots, but prevents blood coagulation as well and may be a valuable precautionary measure in the prevention of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which is associated increasingly with long haul travel. However, research has yet to confirm this.

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Sources:

‘Warfarin therapy: Rat poison and the prevention of thrombosis’ published online, biochemist.org

‘WARFARIN AND CHINESE MEDICINE’ by by Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon, published online, itmonline.org

‘Warfarin’ published online, drugs.com

Warfarin: Medications and Drugs, published online, medicinenet.com

‘Prevent Heart Attack and Stroke with Potent Enzyme that Dissolves Deadly Blood Clots in Hours’. Health Sciences Institute USA, March 2002.

Sumi H. Interview With Doctor of Medicine Hiroyuki Sumi. Japan Bio Science Laboratory Co. Ltd.

Sumi H, Hamada H, Mihara H. A novel strong fibrinolytic enzyme (nattokinase) in the vegetable cheese ‘natto.’ International 5. Journal of Fibronolysis and Thrombolysis. Abstracts of the ninth international congress on fibrinolysis, Amsterdam, 1988, Vol.2, Sup.1:67.

Maruyama M, Sumi H. Effect of Natto Diet on Blood Pressure. JTTAS 1995.