Research-Based Heart Health Education Since 2019

THE AMERICAN HEART HEALTH JOURNAL

THE AMERICAN HEART HEALTH JOURNAL

CARDIOVASCULAR RESEARCH & EDUCATION

A Japanese Enzyme Clinically Studied for Arterial Plaque Reduction

If you're over fifty, there's a good chance you're already taking something for your heart. Fish oil. Beetroot. Maybe a statin you're not thrilled about. Which raises a question almost nobody answers for you: what is any of it actually doing to the arterial buildup itself? Almost nothing. Those products widen vessels. They thin blood. They help with lowering blood pressure and cholesterol. All useful? Yes. But none of them were built to touch arterial plaque that's already there. That's the gap researchers have spent forty years working on, and it's why they keep coming back to a Japanese enzyme called nattokinase.

 

Read below to understand what arterial plaque is, why your body stops clearing it after fifty, and the nattokinase dose that’s been shown to support your body’s ability to break it down.

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By Dr. Marcus Whitfield, MD, FACC · Cardiology, 22 years in practice
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1. Your cholesterol number might not be the one hurting you

A lipid panel measures what's moving through your blood. Cholesterol is important, yes, and the treatment works. But it doesn't measure what's already lodged in the artery wall. Those are two different things. 

 

You can have a good panel and real plaque at the same time. I see it every week — and so does the research.

 

A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology imaged more than 4,100 adults aged 40 to 54. These individuals were non-smokers with optimal blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. Half of those “healthy” adults had significant plaque in their arteries.

 

A doctor would have looked at and told them to keep doing what they were doing. Little did the doctor know their arteries were slowly narrowing year after year.

50%

Of adults aged 40–54 with optimal cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar had significant arterial plaque on imaging

Fernández-Friera et al., 2017 · JACC · PESA study · 4,100+ participants

This study raises the question: if the number can be fine while the wall isn't, which one is actually predicting what happens to you?

We have a decent answer.

 

A 2023 JAMA Cardiology analysis pooled 23 trials and 7,407 patients. Each 1% greater reduction in coronary plaque burden was associated with about 25% lower odds of a major cardiac event.

 

That's an association measured between trial groups. It does not mean shaving 1% off your own plaque prevents a quarter of heart attacks. But it tells you where the risk actually sits.

 

Not in the number. In the artery wall.

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2. Fibrin is the scaffolding that holds arterial plaque in place

Most people picture plaque as grease in a pipe. It's closer to scaffolding.


Fibrin is the tough protein mesh your body uses to form clots. Inside the artery wall, that same mesh becomes a framework. LDL lodges in it. The buildup anchors to it. And it stays.
Now line up what's in your cabinet:

What it does

What it doesn't do

Beetroot

Widens vessels for a few hours

Wears off. Wall unchanged.

Fish oil

Nudges triglycerides

Never reaches the wall

Blood pressure meds

Push the number down

Don't address why it climbs

Red yeast rice

Slows cholesterol production

Leaves existing buildup where it is

These aren't bad choices. Every article takes on a real issue affecting heart health. In fact, I recommend several of them. 
But here’s the gap: none of them break down the fibrin holding plaque together.

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3. Your fibrin-clearing enzyme slows down after forty

So if nothing in the cabinet was built to break fibrin down, what’s been breaking it down all this time? 

You have. Your whole life.

Your body makes its own enzymes to break fibrin down — a cleanup crew that's been running your whole life.

But here’s the problem most doctors don’t pay attention to: your body’s fibrinolytic activity slows with age. Fibrin builds faster than it clears. The scaffolding stays up.

That's the part that matters about aging. Between 40 and 60, nothing new attacks you. Something that was protecting you gets slower.

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4. Nattokinase is one of the few compounds studied to break fibrin down

In 1980, a Japanese researcher named Hiroyuki Sumi screened 173 natural compounds looking for one that could do that job.

 

The one that stood out came from a food he'd eaten at breakfast his whole life — natto, fermented soybeans, on Japanese tables for a thousand years.

 

He named the enzyme nattokinase. His 1990 paper in Acta Haematologica showed that taken orally, nattokinase raised fibrinolytic activity in plasma.

Almost nothing on the supplement shelf works on fibrin. This is one of the few things that's been studied for it.

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5. Japan has been eating it for a thousand years

The Takayama Study followed more than 29,000 Japanese adults for roughly 16 years. The highest natto eaters had about 25% lower cardiovascular mortality than the lowest.

25%

lower cardiovascular mortality among the highest natto consumers

Nagata et al., 2017 · Takayama Study · 29,000+ adults · ~16 years · Observational

That's observational. Natto eaters differ in other ways, and no study like this separates one enzyme from the whole diet around it. I don't call it proof. 


But it's 29,000 people over 16 years, and it's where the clinical research went next.

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6. The trials measured plaque directly — and the dose decided everything

Ren, 2017: a 36.6% reduction in measured carotid plaque after 26 weeks in the nattokinase group.

Chen, 2022, in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine — the largest study on this enzyme to date. 1,062 adults, 12 months. Among the 683 with plaque measured, at about 10,800 FU per day:

Plaque area: −36%
Artery-wall thickness: −21.7%

LDL: −18.1%
Triglycerides: −15.7%

Then the finding that should decide what you buy: The group taking 3,600 FU a day showed no significant change.

10,800 FU/day — plaque reduced 36%
3,600 FU/day — no significant change

Chen et al., 2022 · Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine · Retrospective · 1,062 adults · 12 months

The 3,600 FU group had no significant change. Not a smaller result. No significant change in plaque, wall thickness, or lipids. Same enzyme. Same year. One-third the dose — and the results disappeared.

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7. Most nattokinase bottles are severely underdosed

Look at a typical nattokinase bottle. 2,000 FU. Maybe 4,000 FU.
The dose that moved plaque was 10,800. The dose that did nothing was 3,600 — still nearly double what's in most bottles.
So it goes like this. Someone reads about nattokinase. Buys what's in front of them. Takes it three months. Feels nothing. Decides it doesn't work.
The compound was right. The dose was never close.

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The Formula I Recommend (That I Couldn’t Find Anywhere Else)

Valera Nattokinase exists because of that dose gap.

At 10,800 FU per serving — Valera’s nattokinase is in the range the research evaluated, not the range that showed nothing.

Their nattokinase softgels are enteric-coated. Nattokinase is an enzyme, and stomach acid breaks enzymes down. These softgels hold until they reach the intestine.

Plus 6 supporting co-factors for what nattokinase doesn't cover:

  • Vitamin K2 (MK-7) — helps direct calcium toward bone and away from arterial walls
  • CoQ10 — cellular energy in heart muscle
  • Turmeric — healthy inflammatory response
  • Olive leaf — vascular support
  • Bromelain — circulatory support
  • White willow bark — inflammation reduction

Valera isn't sold in stores or on Amazon. At 10,800 FU it costs several times what a 2,000 FU bottle costs to make, and retail shelves don't stock what they can't price against — so we sell it here and nowhere else.

It’s third-party lab tested. 90-day money-back guarantee

SEE VALERA HERE (BUY TWO GET ONE) → 
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⚠️ IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

Nattokinase supports your body's natural fibrinolytic activity. If you take a blood thinner — warfarin, Eliquis, Xarelto, Plavix, or daily aspirin — talk to your doctor before starting. Stop at least two weeks before any scheduled surgery.

This notice is in bigger type than most companies use because we'd rather lose a sale than have someone hurt themselves.

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References

  1. Chen H, et al. (2022). Front Cardiovasc Med, 9:964977. (Retrospective; author affiliations include Sungen Bioscience.)
  2. Ren NN, et al. (2017). Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi, 97(26):2038-2042.
  3. Nagata C, et al. (2017). Am J Clin Nutr, 105(2):426-431.
  4. Sumi H, et al. (1990). Acta Haematologica, 84(3):139-143.
  5. Fernández-Friera L, et al. (2017). J Am Coll Cardiol, 70(24):2979–2991.

The American Heart Health Journal

Research-Based Heart Health Education Since 2019

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Individual results may vary. Consult your healthcare provider before starting any supplement, especially if you take a blood thinner or prescription medications.