I am pleased to introduce a new product to the Truth for Health store – TruNatto 4K™. Those of you familiar with our store may wonder “Why another nattokinase product?” I am always looking for ways improve our selection of nutraceuticals, whether by enhanced delivery, or increased bioavailability, or a new beneficial ingredient, or one with additional health applications. Or, it just may be a formulation with a more convenient dosing level to help patients use more easily for specific conditions. Our existing nattokinase product delivered 1000 FU per capsule and recommended daily dose is 2 capsules for general use. There are specific situations, however, when a higher dose of nattokinase is recommended and then it becomes more expensive to have to buy enough per month to use 4-8 capsules a day. So that’s why I added the option of TruNatto 4K™ which reduces the number of capsules per day when higher doses are needed.
Two Goals for Today’s Health Tip
With all the emphasis in the media today about “spike protein detox” and using natural medicines rather than Rx pharmaceuticals, I wanted to review both the many benefits AND the major cautions that are often overlooked when using supplements. So my two goals for today are these:
- Discuss the potential uses and cautions with higher dose nattokinase for specific medical situations and provide you information to explore with your personal health professionals
- Discuss the potentially serious risks of indiscriminately starting or adding multiple supplements with anticoagulant/anti-platelet effects, OR taking combination supplements with anticoagulant effects, which can seriously increase risk of bleeding, including hemorrhagic stroke, or bleeding in the eye – as happened with Steve Kirsch taking a “spike detox” product with three components (nattokinase, bromelain, and curcumin) all with anticoagulant effects. The bleeding in his eye led to permanent blindness, as he wrote about in his Substack article.
Last year, one of my patients began having angry purple discolorations down her entire legs on both sides, and her internist and chiropractor couldn’t figure out what was causing this. She contacted me and sent photos of these serious discolorations, which were entirely new since my last appointment with her. I had asked her what had changed just before this discoloration started. She said “Oh, I just added a new supplement with this Spike Detox product I heard a famous cardiologist recommending, since I thought it might help get rid of the spike protein.”
She did not know that this combination product with bromelain, nattokinase and curcumin contained three products all of which had anticoagulant activity. There was no warning about possible bleeding risk on the product bottle OR in the TV ad. My patient also did not realize that she Had already been taking three other supplements on a regular basis that also had anticoagulant activity. She had not taken into account the combined effects of SIX natural medicine supplements with anticoagulant activity that she took every day—aspirin, fish oil, and vitamin E. She had also not remembered that I already checked her D-Dimer and fibrinogen, which were normal. She did not need SIX different anticoagulants! It turns out the discoloration covering both legs from the groin to her feet was due to bleeding under the skin and this purplish discoloration was the blood that was in the subcutaneous fat and interstitial spaces. Once she stopped all of the anticoagulant supplements it took several months for all of the discoloration to resolve but she did not have permanent damage, Unlike what happened with Steve Kirsch who was permanently blind in his eye from the bleeding caused by the combination Spike Detox product.
Then just the other day, another one of my patients asked about taking a “spike detox” product containing nattokinase/bromelain/curcumin she heard about on TV. I had been monitoring her spike protein antibody levels, and also checking her D-dimer, fibrinogen, and C-reactive protein. Based on the TV ad, and her high spike protein antibody, she thought she should try this product. Fortunately, she asked about safety before just starting on her own, as other patients of mine have done and then had serious bleeding problems.
In this recent situation, my patient’s D-dimer and fibrinogen have been normal at her last two appointments since last fall. I had explained at each appointment why spike protein antibody can remain high over time, due to the mRNA in the COVID shots being reverse transcribed into the body’s DNA and then directing your body to keep making spike protein. The risk of blood clots really increases when D-Dimer and/or fibrinogen are high, or other clotting mutations (such as Factor V Leiden, Protein C, Protein S and others) are present, not just when spike protein antibodies are elevated.
Even without any symptoms of potential blood clots, and no laboratory indicators to warrant adding anticoagulant treatment or supplements – she thought she should consider taking this combination product just to “detox” spike protein from the shots. More and more often, I see how people hear a celebrity doctor selling a “detox” product, making it sound as if it ithe magic bullet, and they want to start taking it without looking into side effects, potential risks, or how that product may combine (positively OR negatively) with their other medicines and regular supplements they are already taking.
I want to be clear. I recommend and use Nattokinase for many of my patients. “Natto” is an amazing and very beneficial natural medicine, but you need to use it properly and safely for your specific needs, based on your lab numbers, your risks, effects of your other medications, and what other supplements you are take. But there are certain cautions you need to take seriously, as I have repeatedly warned in programs, other health tips, and my individual patient appointments. Taking combination products with multiple components with anticoagulants activity such as bromelain, curcumin, and nattokinase in large doses causes a risk of significant bleeding that can lead to a hemorrhage. Our Truth for Health Vaccine Injury Treatment Guide contains an extensive list supplements, herbs, and foods that have anticoagulant properties and this is available as a free download on our website: www.truthforhealth.org
Throughout my medical career, when evaluating new and established patients, I have tried to always be very careful to do a thorough evaluation including laboratory markers, detailed medical and family history and review of other medicines/supplements a person is taking, and then develop an individually tailored treatment plan to implement in a systematic and step-wise fashion to reach the agreed upon goals for that patient. For example, based on the information gathered before and during an initial appointment, I will know the overall approach for the treatment plan that patient will need, I will have in mind several different hormone options if that is needed, and will have in mind other medicines and supplements I think can help that person. But, I do not make all of the changes at once.
We need to see what is working, make changes as needed, and start with lower doses and go slowly to avoid unwanted side effects. I use the same approach whether I am recommending supplements or dietary or exercise changes.
BOTTOM LINE: I URGE YOU NOT TO JUST START TAKING SUPPLMENTS ON YOUR OWN. Get tested, seek knowledgeable guidance, and remember: natural medicines are used because they have therapeutic effects. But they also have potential risks and you have to look at the whole picture and tailor supplements to your actual needs and how they fit with your medical conditions and current Rx medicines.
Nattokinase – Overview of What it Is and What it Does
Nattokinase is a potent enzyme that is extracted from natto, a fermented soybean food that has been consumed in Japan for over 1000 years. TruNatto™ and TruNatto 4K™ are both highly purified and uniquely formulated to avoid breakdown by digestive enzymes, which helps it to be optimally absorbed from the small intestine. Nattokinase has been used as supplement for cardiovascular conditions in Japan for many years due to its ability to reduce atherosclerotic plaque and help breakdown fibrin in blood clots as its primary antithrombotic action.
Nattokinase is an enzyme in the soy-based food, natto, which is made through the fermentation of boiled soybeans by the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. While other soy foods contain enzymes, it is only the natto preparation of fermented soybeans that contains the nattokinase enzyme. Unfermented, boiled soybeans, which is the source of most soy in the American diet, do not contain natto.
High natto consumption has been linked to the Japanese population’s longer average lifespans and lower chronic disease rates. In particular, studies show that people with diets rich in natto have lower rates of death from heart diseases. Other benefits listed include:
- dissolves blood clots
- maintains healthy blood vessel structure
- improved sinus health
- shrink nasal polyps and thin mucus
- promote good gut bacterial balance
- strengthen immune system
- boost metabolism
Nattokinase has been the subject of many studies over decades. In 1980, during a series of in vitro experiments at the University of Chicago Medical School, Dr. Hiroyuki Sumi discovered that natto could affect fibrin levels. Fibrin is a whitish, filamentous protein that is formed in blood after a trauma or injury to protect the body from excessive blood loss. Strands of fibrin can accumulate along the walls of blood vessels and affect blood flow. After Dr. Sumi discovered the effect of natto on fibrin, he proceeded to look for natto’s active component which he isolated and named “nattokinase,” which means “enzyme in natto.” Although Dr. Sumi named this active ingredient in natto as a “kinase,” it is actually in the protease family of enzymes. The B. subtilisin bacteria used to ferment soybeans to produce natto, produces the enzyme called subtilisin protease, which along with the enzyme bacillopeptidase F., acts directly on fibrin and also causes the release of substances that trigger the body’s production of other important enzymes that help regulate fibrin formation.
Nattokinase supports healthy levels of fibrin and healthy blood flow through the blood vessels of our body. Studies have also found that nattokinase helps to break down fibrin in blood clots, which means it has a complementary action to the anti-platelet aggregation effects of aspirin – but using them together should be done with your doctor’s supervise to avoid risk of excessive bleeding with too much anti-clotting activity.
Nattokinase also inhibits a key enzyme that affects extracellular and arterial vasoconstriction, decrease red blood cell aggregation and low-shear viscosity, which is another way that nattokinase helps prevent blood clots. Dr. Sumi’s research also showed a positive effect to help maintain blood pressure in the healthy range.
More current research has shown that nattokinase has a protective effect against hepatic (liver) and neuro toxicity derived from environmental toxins and ionizing radiation. Nattokinase is also being studied to treat symptoms of COPD and bronchitis, as well as complications of spike protein damage from the COVID shots. I will do a future Health Tip with more details on these expanded applications of nattokinase-stay tuned!
Hormones and Nattokinase: Complementary Actions
Healthy circulation depends on both responsive blood vessels and balanced clot formation and breakdown. Estradiol, testosterone, and nattokinase act on different parts of this system, creating a potentially complementary—rather than interchangeable—relationship. Estradiol maintains the health of the endothelium, the thin lining inside blood vessels, and also is a potent promoter of nitric oxide production. Nitric oxide helps vessels relax and widen so blood can reach tissues more readily. Estradiol in physiological levels (or with transdermal delivery after menopause) helps to maintain normal action of platelets and can actually help reduce micro blood clot formation. In men and women, testosterone also participates in vascular-relaxation signaling and supports red-blood-cell production, which helps carry oxygen throughout the body. Adequate levels of these hormones support normal physiology, and helps maintain normal blood pressure, platelet and endothelial lining function.
Nattokinase acts primarily on a different process: fibrin turnover. Fibrin forms the protein mesh that stabilizes a blood clot. Nattokinase breaks down fibrin and supports the body’s own fibrin-clearing pathways; and affects modest blood-pressure reductions.
These actions offer a useful way to understand their complementary relationship: estradiol and testosterone help regulate the vessels through which blood travels, while nattokinase may support the natural processes that break down fibrin. Responsive vessels help regulate blood pressure and the resistance against which the heart pumps; balanced fibrin turnover contributes to normal clot maintenance and clearance.
Together, these mechanisms provide a framework for complementary circulatory support—combining hormone optimization with nattokinase produces additive benefits for blood flow, blood pressure, or heart function.
TruNatto 4K™: Safely Using High Potency Nattokinase
Your heart provides the pump but healthy circulation keeps blood moving. Heart disease, blood pressure, blood flow, and the presence of micro blood clots that impede blood flow are the major clinical applications for higher dose nattokinase supplementation. As described above, scientists became interested in this enzyme because of its ability to break down fibrin—the threadlike protein that helps form the framework of blood clots. That activity, called fibrinolysis, makes nattokinase an intriguing ingredient for supporting the body’s natural processes that helps maintain healthy circulation. Our new TruNatto 4K™ delivers 4,000 fibrinolytic units, or FU, of nattokinase in one daily capsule. It offers a convenient way to support cardiovascular health, healthy blood flow, and healthy blood pressure already within the normal range.
Healthy circulation depends on balance
Your circulatory system does more than move blood. It delivers oxygen and nutrients to tissues throughout your body—and carries away the waste those tissues produce. Keeping that system working properly requires a balance between forming clots when needed and breaking down fibrin as part of normal clot turnover. When a blood vessel becomes injured, fibrin helps create a protective mesh that limits blood loss. Your body also has a built-in system for dismantling that mesh. Nattokinase has attracted research interest because it supports this fibrin-breakdown process. Now remember, this is not about stopping normal clotting. It is about supporting the natural processes involved in healthy fibrin turnover and circulation.
How nattokinase supports healthy blood flow
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