What can you do when conventional treatment is not working?

November 14, 12:55 PMSacramento Nutrition ExaminerAnne Hart

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According to the July 20, 2009 MSNBC Healthcare online article in the ‘Prevention,’ column by Richard Laliberte, “When the best treatment is wrong for you: Guidelines sought to help determine most effective medical care,”   The article notes, “Each of us responds uniquely to any given medication. A drug that works 20 percent of the time, for instance, may be considered effective — even though it does nothing for 80 percent of patients.”  

Because you don’t have drugs tailored to your genes, you’re going to respond uniquely to any drug. You don’t know how fast or slow your liver or kidneys will metabolize the medicines. Your overall health plays a large part, your age, and even your ethnicity. Some ethnic groups metabolize medicines differently from other groups in the sense that the dosage needs to be adjusted. Genetics determines how a drug affects your body.

For information on this topic, you need to read the articles written not only by geneticists but also by clinical evidence specialists. You can read information published by the Center for Evidence-Based Policy at Oregon Health & Sciences University. www.ohsu.edu/ohsuedu/research/policycenter/DERP/  Read the information at the Drug Effectiveness Review Project (DERP) site.

DERP is a collaboration of public entities, the Center for Evidence-based Policy and the Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center, who have joined together to produce systematic, evidence-based reviews of the comparative effectiveness and safety of drugs in many widely used drug classes, and to apply the findings to inform public policy and related activities in local settings. Check out the DERP library or the documents posted for public comment at the Draft Products site.  

Natto

How does a traditional Japanese fermented soybean product called 'natto' lower high blood pressure? Natto is mentioned in the 2007 hardcover book, Reverse Heart Disease Now, by Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D., James C. Roberts, M.D., with Martin Zucker. On page 133, under "Our Recommendations" the authors note, "For both prevention and as part of a therapeutic program, we suggest eating natto two or three times a week. You can find it at Japanese grocers or health food stores."

Some vitamin K2 supplements are in the MK-7 form and contain some natto. But don't take vitamin K-2 in supplements if you take Coumadin (Warfarin) or similar blood thinners (anticoagulants). A vitamin K supplement will neutralize Coumadin.

What's the story on the benefits of natto? There has been a lot of research on natto and nattokinase on blood pressure.According to the Jeffrey Dach MD, TrueMed MD site, "In 1980, while studying physiological chemistry at the University of Chicago Medical School, Japanese researcher Hiroyuki Sumi accidentally discovered that a traditional Japanese soy cheese which had been consumed for centuries, called "natto", had the ability to dissolve clots. His research group published a paper on the discovery in 1987."

In Japan, natto is eaten to lower blood pressure and for cardiovascular support. You can look over the confirmed research by several clinical trials in 1995, that studied the effects of nattokinase on blood pressure in both animal and human subjects at Miyazaki Medical College and Kurashiki University in Japan .

What natto does is inhibit the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE). When the ACE is inhibited, it has a lowering effect on blood pressure. According to the Jeffrey Dach MD, TrueMed MD site, in a human study, "nattokinase ingestion was associated with a 10 percent drop in blood pressure."

So if natto is doing what ACE inhibiting drugs are doing, why prescribe drugs? In Japan, a lot of people eat natto. According to the article at the Jeffrey Dach MD, TrueMed MD site, natto "is a nutritional supplement which is considered safe, However, people with bleeding disorders or on blood thinners should use nattokinase only under medical supervision."

First you have to find out whether your high blood pressure is caused by high renin levels, or whether you have hypertension with low renin levels. And your doctor can test that. Healthcare researchers claim that "common hypertension" is caused by too much renin. 

Looking for Japanese groceries to ask more questions about how to prepare or eat natto as food? Read the great reviews.

Where to Buy Natto in Sacramento or Davis

If you're looking for Japanese grocery stores to inquire about 'natto', see Just Hungry’s list of Japanese grocery stores in California. Locally, in Sacramento, there's  Oto's Japan Food, 4990 Freeport Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95822. Phone: (916) 424-2398. For a Japanese market in Davis, there's Kim's Market: Asian Food, 636 4th Street (Between F and E st.) Davis, CA 95616. Phone: (530)753-5916.
 

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