Nature has given humans more and more life inspirations.
Tu Youyou's team successfully extracted artemisinin from Artemisia annua stems and leaves, helping many people in poor and backward areas get rid of malaria . Today, our country has already achieved "a malaria-free country" and obtained malaria elimination certification from the WHO in 2021. However, while we can already use advanced technologies to deal with infectious sources and improve the external environment, new internal problems lie ahead.
The "China Cardiovascular Health and Disease Report 2020" shows that the number of people suffering from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular problems in my country is currently as high as 330 million, and it has become the first cause of death among urban and rural residents in my country. The report believes that unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, smoking and other lifestyle factors are important causes of cardiovascular problems.
Nature has once again given us a generous gift.
Scientists have found a substance in the naturally fermented food natto that helps maintain cardiovascular health: nattokinase . This substance has been proven to help reduce cardiovascular risk markers, thereby helping to better maintain cardiovascular health [1 ].
"Dr. Natto's" "2:30 PM Experiment"
One day in 1980, Dr. Hiroko Sumi, a Japanese cardiovascular expert who was engaged in cardiovascular research in Chicago, was eating breakfast while looking at the natto he brought from his hometown. Thoughts: In my hometown, the proportion of cardiovascular problems among middle-aged and elderly people is much lower than in Chicago . Could it be related to sticky traditional food like natto?
Thinking of this, Dr. Xu Jianyan put down his breakfast, rushed to the laboratory excitedly, and added the substances extracted from natto to the artificial thrombus. At this time, he looked at the time and it was already 2:30 pm. I originally planned to record the experimental results the next day. When he got off work in the afternoon, Dr. Xu Jianxing glanced at the petri dish . He was surprised to find that in just 3 hours, the thrombus actually dissolved by a full 2 centimeters, which was equivalent to 19 times the speed of the urokinase he used in the past!
After further research, Dr. Sumi Yoko successfully discovered a substance that plays a role in natto and named it nattokinase. The relevant research was published in an industry magazine [1] and attracted considerable attention.
This accidental experiment has also become the famous "2:30 PM Experiment" in the history of cardiovascular health research, and Dr. Sumi Yoko himself was even called "Dr. Natto."
Nattokinase protects the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular
Since then, more and more studies on natto and cardiovascular health have been released.
Scientists even conducted a large 16-year cohort study [2], which included 13,355 male and 15,724 female volunteers. The results showed a high correlation between high natto intake and cardiovascular health.
But for many people, the taste of natto is a bit strange and even difficult to swallow. Since the main function is nattokinase, is it possible to directly supplement nattokinase to achieve a similar effect on ?
Scientists conducted experiments for 10 years. Among them, an article published in "Pharmaceutical Journal" [3] in 2006 systematically confirmed the potential preventive ability of nattokinase in thrombosis. The main component of thrombus is fibrin, and there are also some low-density lipoproteins. Nattokinase has shown good ability to dissolve fibrinoprotein in various experiments. This is the principle of nattokinase helping to maintain blood vessel patency. .
In fact, in addition to natto, scientists have also discovered monacolins (MK), an extract that can maintain cardiovascular health, in another traditional Chinese fermented food - red yeast rice . Became a good partner of Natto.
Yang[4] team of of Zhongzhou University of Science and Technology conducted a double-blind randomized controlled trial with 47 participants. It showed that the experimental group that simultaneously supplemented 50mg nattokinase + 300mg red yeast extract had lower triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol. (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) showed a higher decrease. This means that the combination of natto and red yeast rice is expected to work better than using either ingredient alone.
It is worth mentioning that due to the relatively complicated production process of fermented food, self-operation may cause colonies to exceed the standard and produce harmful substances. Faced with this problem, dozens of pharmaceutical and health companies around the world have launched relevant layouts. Japanese companies Kobayashi Pharmaceutical , the Institute of Biological Sciences, ASTALIVE and other related industrialization achievements have gradually been implemented, and many local people regard it as a daily routine. Dietary supplement use.
In recent years, domestic cardiovascular problems have become increasingly serious. It is understood that the domestic By-Health Nutrition and Health Research Institute has also increased relevant research, which may play a role in the prevention of cardiovascular problems.
Daily maintenance is the key
With the continuous development of society, we can obtain more and more abundant food, but at the same time, more and more people have formed the eating habits of high salt, high sugar and high oil, coupled with the long-term Due to many factors such as sitting less and moving more, high stress, more and more people are suffering from cardiovascular problems, which may even lead to serious consequences such as stroke and heart failure .
Although many hospitals have now established chest pain centers for high-risk cardiovascular problems, every second counts. However, when cardiovascular problems develop into the later stages, there is still a high disability and mortality rate, which has become a heavy burden on families and society.
As the saying goes "it is better to treat later than to nourish first", the maintenance of cardiovascular health requires us to start from daily life and pay attention to cardiovascular health: regular exercise, healthy diet, and a calm mind . Of course, we can also make use of the industrialization results of substances such as nattokinase and red yeast extract. In short, the key to cardiovascular health lies in daily maintenance.
References
[1]Sumi H, Hamada H, Tsushima H, et al. A novel fibrinolytical enzyme (nattokinase) in the vegetable cheese natto, a typical and popular soybean food in the Japanese diet [J]. Experientia, 1987, 43 (20) :1110.
[2] Nagata C, Wada K, Tamura T, Konishi K, Goto Y, Koda S, Kawachi T, Tsuji M, Nakamura K. Dietary soy and natto intake and cardiovascular disease mortality in Japanese adults : the Takayama study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017 Feb;105(2):426-431. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.116.137281. Epub 2016 Dec 7. PMID: 27927636.
[3] Ming-Wai Tai, Pharm. D., Burgunda V. Sweet, Pharm.D., Nattokinase for prevention of thrombosis, American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, Volume 63, Issue 12, 15 June 2006, Pages 1121–1123.
[4] Yang NC, Chou CW, Chen CY, Hwang KL, Yang YC. Combined nattokinase with red yeast rice but not nattokinase alone has potent effects on blood lipids in human subjects with hyperlipidemia. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2009;18(3):310-7 . PubMed PMID: 19786378.
