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Nattokinase has become one of the most talked about supplements in heart health. Some people take it hoping that it's going to improve their circulation. Others take it because they've heard it'll break down the clots associated with heart attacks and strokes.
But a brand new study has uncovered something that nobody was really looking at before. The researchers found that one characteristic that you've had ever since you were born may significantly influence how well nattokinase actually works for you. And if it's true, it changes the conversation completely. Because the supplement that seems to work well for one person may not work the same way at all for someone else, for you.
So by the end of this video, you're going to understand what actually happens with nattokinase, what it does inside your arteries, and what this new study actually found, and what you should know before deciding whether nattokinase belongs in your supplement cabinet. And if you're the kind of person who tracks your own numbers and actually reads the research, this is exactly the kind of finding that the standard supplement conversation really never gets to. So, why don't we start there?
Most people who've heard of nattokinase know it as a heart supplement, something that helps with clotting, so therefore it's got to be good. Maybe you read about it online, you hear about it from a friend, but very few people can actually explain what it does inside the body. And that matters here. So, let's start there.
First of all, what's an enzyme? Enzymes basically are biological tools. They're proteins that your body uses to speed up a specific chemical reaction. In this case, the reaction nattokinase speeds up is the breakdown of blood clots. You see, our body's clotting all the time, and it needs some way to break those down. That's why we have the ability to break down clots. Nattokinase speeds that up.
It comes from a traditional Japanese fermented food called natto, fermented soybeans. And yes, if you've never eaten fermented soybeans, natto, it is an acquired taste. The bacterium that ferments the soybeans produces this enzyme as a natural byproduct. That enzyme turns out to have a very specific and powerful effect on the structure of blood clots.
Here's what I mean. When a blood clot forms in your body, it's not just a blob of congealed blood. It has a structure. The backbone of that structure is a protein. It's called fibrin. Think of fibrin like a net. It's a mesh that forms around the clot and through the clot and holds the whole thing together. Red blood cells get physically trapped inside that mesh, compressed, deformed, unable to carry oxygen the way they normally would because they're not going anywhere because they're stuck inside this mesh. And that's what makes a clot dangerous. Not just that it blocks blood flow, but that the tissue downstream stops getting oxygen. That's what a heart attack is. That's what a stroke is. You block off the artery before that tissue and it can't get oxygen anymore. That causes the damage to heart tissue or brain tissue in a heart attack or stroke.
Nattokinase cuts through that fibrin mesh directly. When it does, the clot breaks apart. The red blood cells trapped inside can even recover their normal shape. Blood flow can resume. And nattokinase therefore is not really doing something vague. It's targeting a specific protein structure inside a clot.
Now, your body does need to clot, so let's not do away with clotting completely. And let's ask this question, how quickly can nattokinase get through that structure, that clot, that mesh? It turns out how quickly it does that may depend significantly on the person taking it and what you were born with.
What this new study found and why it matters is something that nattokinase conversations just really never touched before. The study, earlier this year, February 2026, is a study that came out in Scientific Reports, that's part of the Nature Publishing Group, one of the most respected scientific publishers in the world. The researchers wanted to answer a question that seems simple, but was never actually studied before. Does nattokinase work the same way in every person?
So, to find out, they collected nearly 2,000 blood samples, 1,800 of them actually, from people aged 10 years old all the way up to 70. Every blood type, all eight and Rh combinations, those are blood types, A, B, O, and Rh means positive or negative, so A negative, A positive, B negative, B positive, AB negative, so they're those combinations. For each sample, they formed an actual blood clot in a controlled setting, and then they added nattokinase and measured exactly how long it took to fully dissolve that clot.
Now, this is what we would call an in vitro, in other words, in the lab as opposed to in vivo, inside the body. But, let's go further in terms of what they found. They used an electron microscope to visually confirm what was happening at the cellular level, and they ran a molecular analysis to understand why certain samples dissolved clots faster than others, much faster. And then they validated the whole thing in a completely separate group, 562 additional samples from nine different cities.
The results were striking. Among all the factors they measured, one stood out above everything else, one factor. The fastest responders had their clots dissolved nearly 19 minutes, almost 20 minutes faster than the slowest responders. And that difference appeared to come down to blood type.
Now, before I tell you what the blood type finding was, I want to say something that I think is more important than the finding itself. This study highlights something we almost never talk about in preventive medicine. The same supplement may behave differently depending on the biology of the person taking it. That's also true for medications. It's also true for nutrition. And this study suggests it may be true for nattokinase as well. And I suspect it is. That's the real headline here, not that one blood type is better than another, but that individual biology matters, and we knew that. And that personalized prevention is not a luxury, it's the standard we should all be held to.
So, what did the study find? It ranked blood types from fastest to slowest response to nattokinase. The order was this: O was the fastest, then B, then A, then AB. O positive showed the fastest dissolution times in the entire study. AB negative showed the slowest.
Now, wonder why that is? Well, the explanation, there is one, and it comes down to a protein called von Willebrand factor. When I read this, it reminded me of the a time in medical school when I was in emergency room rotation in pediatrics and we had a patient with von Willebrand's disease. It's a bleeding disease. It's named after a Dr. von Willebrand. You don't need to remember his name, but here's the thing. You just need to know what it does. von Willebrand factor acts as a reinforcement protein. It's job is to help stabilize and strengthen blood clots to make that fibrin mesh tighter and more resistant.
People with blood type O naturally carry lower levels of von Willebrand factor than people with non-O blood types. So, their fibrin mesh is less tightly constructed. Nattokinase gets through it more readily. Non-O blood types, and I'm type A positive or negative? I'm type A, I can't remember Rh factor. A, B, and AB, A, B, and AB have progressively higher von Willebrand factor levels. Their clots are structurally more dense. The fibrin mesh is more resistant and dissolving those clots for AB and AB takes longer. The electron microscope images confirmed this directly. At the moment type O positive clots were fully dissolved, AB negative samples still had red blood cells partially trapped inside fibrin.
Now, here's what I want to be clear about. This does not automatically mean with that people with non-O blood types need higher doses. The study wasn't designed to answer that question, although it does raise it, doesn't it? What it does tell us though is that clot structure appears to differ in meaningful ways between blood types. These differences in blood type and von Willebrand factor may influence how quickly nattokinase can do its job and therefore interesting science is not always the same as a clinical recommendation. That's an important distinction and that's where we're going here, trying to take interesting science and make a an important distinction. Most of the online nattokinase conversation's going to miss all this entirely.
Blood type wasn't the only factor that the study identified. There's a second variable layered on top of blood type. One that compounds the picture further. Remember I mentioned it, Rh factor, the positive or negative sign attached to your blood type. People who are Rh positive carry an additional protein on their red blood cells. The study found that this protein appears to interact with nattokinase in a way that may help the enzyme work more efficiently. So people who are Rh negative don't carry that protein. The effect is still being characterized. This is early science, but the pattern was consistent enough across the data set to be worth knowing. And when you combine Rh negative with a non-O blood type, you're potentially losing two separate biological advantages at once.
Now here's the variable the study found to be the strongest predictor of all and it's going to be obvious to you if you have it. It's called aging. Age, your body produces its own clot-dissolving enzymes naturally, but from middle age onward, that natural capacity to dissolve clots, it declines. You don't dissolve clots as well anymore. The enzyme that does the dissolving decreases. Just like the type of protein that makes your skin tight when you're younger and have wrinkles and bags when you're older. It's cuz a protein called elastin. That happens as you get older. Aging is an number one driver of insulin resistance because aging causes insulin receptors to get more resistant. This protein that blocks the dissolving, this protein increases as you age. So, the older you are, the more you may need to have external fibrinolytic, you know, clot busting support. But, also the harder that job becomes biologically. The worst combination in the entire study was AB negative in the 66 to 70, the older age group. Least favorable blood type, no RH factor enhancement, and the lowest natural fibrinolytic capacity of the age groups. Two variables encoded in your biology since birth, both completely ignored by every standard nattokinase dosing recommendation that I've ever seen. How about you?
And this is where I want to step back from the mechanism for a moment because the people counting on you, your wife, your grandkids, your community, your church, your company, your culture, we need you capable and present, not slowly declining on a dose of something that was never calibrated for your biology in the first place.
So, let's think about the practical takeaway here. The most important thing this study tells us isn't that everyone should rush out and change their dose. It's that biology matters. So, before you assume nattokinase is working for you or not working, make sure you're measuring the outcome that actually matters. Maybe you want to start by knowing your blood type. That's the baseline. If you're O positive, the study suggests nattokinase is likely working with your biology at standard doses. If you're not O positive, and most people aren't, your clot architecture may more resistant. And maybe that's worth a conversation with a healthcare provider who actually understands this stuff, if you can find one.
Now, on dosing generally, nattokinase is a supplement, but supplementation is not harmless. Bleeding risk is real, especially at higher doses. So, you might be thinking about me, for example. Well, you see, I also have atrial fib, paroxysmal atrial fib. That impacts what kind of blood thinner you should take. I also have plaque. I'm 68 years old. That impacts whether or not you should take blood thinners. What I typically recommend as a starting point for typical patient, no plaque, no aspirin, no other fibrinolytic mechanisms, no antiplatelet mechanisms like baby aspirin, start at 2,000 fibrinolytic units. That's how nattokinase is measured, by the way, not milligrams or grams. It's FU, fibrinolytic units. And if you and your provider decide to go higher, increase gradually, every two to four weeks, with monitoring. And if you're on aspirin or any other blood thinner, like I just mentioned, that conversation needs to happen before you change anything. The combined fact effect on clotting, it can become unpredictable.
So, the bottom line is this, check your blood type, understand where you sit in this picture, and work with someone who can help you measure what you're taking, and help you make sure that you know what you need to do. Because personalized prevention isn't about finding the perfect supplement, it's about understanding your own biology well enough to make decisions that are actually calibrated to you.
Now, if you'd like to take what you just learned and actually apply it to your own biology, your body, your metabolism. With me and my team guiding you, call the number on your screen now or click the link in the description below. The majority of my patients come to us after watching a video just like this and we'd love to help you. Banana case is just one of the items that we use to heal arteries. If you want to see our full plan, take a look at this video right here. And remember, growing old is not for sissies. I know, I'm 68 years old, but it's a lot easier with healthy arteries.