JANUARY 17, 2012 NATTO

"DIE, MY DEAR DOCTOR,--THAT'S THE LAST THING I SHALL DO." - lord palmerston

Who was Lord Palmerston? Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865), known popularly as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman who served twice as Prime Minister in the mid-19th century. Popularly nicknamed "Pam", he was in government office almost continuously from 1807 until his death in 1865, beginning his parliamentary career as a Tory and concluding it as a Liberal. He was also known for his quotes, one which appears above. Others include, "We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow."

Two weeks ago, my oldest patient, Mary died at age 104. She would have been 105 in February. I also thought of the Lord Palmerston quote when I spoke to her or her son on the phone from Florida. She followed a dietary and exericse lifestyle as well as taking her vitamin.supplements and herbs. She will be missed!

What food do you think can clean the blood and keep your bones strong? You probably have never heard of it, but it is called Natto. Natto is Japanese. It is the accounterment to rice made of fermented soybeans. It is the rage, at least in New York City. The word actually means "meat of the farm". I will tell you this: the protein in natto is higher than that found in eggs and its cholesterol content is almost zero. I am not opposed to whole eggs (yolk and white) as long as you do not eat bread nor potatoes with it. Once you add carbohydrates with eggs your cholesterol will go up.

Back to natto... I would rather you use natto which uses the whole soybean rather than processed tofu. I do not recommend tofu. You get a lot of fiber from natto --another plus for your diet. Natto is made by packing the soybeans into straw. The bacteria in the straw ferment the soybeans. The bacteria from natto is a good friendly bacteria as it increases lactic acid bacteria in the human small intestines. Yeah --this helps to resolve slow bowel movements. Derived from natto is the enzyme nattokinase which has been studied to clean the blood. It acts as a blood thinner. There are many Japanese studies documenting this aspect of the enzyme. It has also been found that nattokinase activates another enzyme, urokinase that melts clots. By having thinner blood you are preventing strokes, heart attacks, atherosclerosis and diabetes.

I consume nattokinase as a capsule every day (about 50 - 100 units). Another vitamin called Vitamin K2 is created by fermentation and has been shown to strengthen bones. Most of the nattokinase products contain Vitamin K2. You can get more vitamin K2 by eating natto 3 - 5 times per week or more. At first I did not like the smell of natto as a food source. I was told not to heat it as it will deactivate the enzyme I want - the nattokinase. Make it into a fried dumpling. By this method you will not lose the effects of the nattokinase nor the Vitamin K. I never eat natto alone . I combine it with yams, onions and Japanese pickles. You may ask - why Japanese pickles ? These pickles also contain lactic acid bacteria--more benefit to the GI tract. If you are one of those individual who take coumadin (warfarin) be careful as this conventional drug weakness the effect of Vitamin K2 which is needed for the healthy bones.

Until tomorrow...