Health Propaganda, Exposed
Before you act: Don't stop or replace a statin or other heart medication without talking to your doctor. Nattokinase may raise bleeding risk, especially with blood thinners or aspirin.
“nattokinase supplementation has a null effect on subclinical atherosclerosis progression in healthy individuals at low risk for CVD.”
Human randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (265 healthy adults, median 3 years).
We could not access the paper's funding section; Europe PMC lists no government grant. Treat funding as unverified.
The Nattokinase Atherothrombotic Prevention Study (NATS).
"Annualized rate of change in CIMT and CAS did not significantly differ between nattokinase supplementation and placebo," and there was "no significant effect ... on blood pressure or any laboratory determination."
Participants were low-risk people without heart disease, at 2,000 FU/day — far below the 10,800 FU/day dose in the 2022 Chen study. It does not test people with high cholesterol or compare with statins.
Supporters argue the dose was too low; the 2022 Chen study reported 3,600 FU/day was also ineffective while 10,800 FU/day helped (observational).