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The Silk of the Bean
Nattokinase takes its name from natto, the fermented soybean food of Japan. A look at what nattokinase is, the food it comes from, the enzyme itself, and the name it carries.
Its name joins two parts, natto, the fermented soybean food of Japan, and kinase, a suffix borrowed from the vocabulary of enzymes.
Nattokinase is an enzyme first drawn from natto, a traditional Japanese food of soybeans fermented with a common bacterium. What follows is the story of the food, the enzyme, and its name, told by its origin and its chemistry alone.
An enzyme, named for a food
Nattokinase is an enzyme. It was first identified in natto, a traditional Japanese food made by fermenting boiled soybeans with a common soil bacterium, Bacillus subtilis var. natto. The same fermentation that gives natto its character also gives rise to the enzyme, and the enzyme took the food's name.
The name is a compound. Natto is the food, and kinase is a suffix drawn from the language of enzymes. It was named in the 1980s by the Japanese researcher Hiroyuki Sumi, who first described it in the fermented bean. There is a small puzzle folded into the name, one the chemistry would later resolve, since nattokinase belongs, in fact, to a different family of enzymes than its name suggests.
This piece follows the food and the enzyme, what nattokinase is, where it comes from, and the forms it takes, set within the wider study of how the body sustains itself across time.
The ferment
The food it comes from
Natto is made from soybeans, steamed and then fermented, until the beans are bound in fine, glossy threads. It is from this fermented bean that the enzyme was first drawn.
The enzyme
Nattokinase, in brief
A few of the plain facts about the food, the enzyme, and its name.
The Name
"Nattokinase" joins natto, the fermented soybean food, and kinase, a suffix from the language of enzymes.
Bacillus subtilis
Natto is made by fermenting boiled soybeans with a common bacterium, Bacillus subtilis var. natto.
Not a Kinase
Despite its name, the enzyme belongs to the subtilisin family of serine proteases.
Subtilisin NAT
It carries a second scientific name, subtilisin NAT, and is built of a set chain of amino acids.
The forms
One enzyme, several forms
Beyond the whole food, nattokinase appears in a handful of prepared forms, each a different way of handling the same enzyme.
The forms it takes
Nattokinase, and its forms
A few of the forms the enzyme takes, described by their origin and preparation, not their use.
Whole Food Natto
- Origin
- Steamed soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis var. natto
- Form
- A traditional food, bound in fine threads
- Noted for
- The original source of the enzyme.
Isolated Enzyme
- Origin
- The enzyme separated from the fermentation
- Form
- A fine powder produced during fermentation
- Noted for
- The enzyme drawn out of the food.
Standardized Preparation
- Origin
- An isolated enzyme measured to a set standard
- Form
- A preparation defined by a stated activity level
- Noted for
- The form most often described in the literature.
Subtilisin NAT
- Origin
- The enzyme's formal scientific classification
- Form
- A subtilisin-family serine protease
- Noted for
- The chemistry behind the name.
The bean
A single bean
Beneath the food, the enzyme, and the name sits one humble origin, a soybean, steamed and fermented until it yielded a new enzyme.
Up close
The food, in detail
Soybeans bound in the fine threads of fermentation.
The soybean, steamed before it is fermented.
The powders and preparations drawn from the same enzyme.
The enzyme, one by one
Nattokinase, one by one
The plain facts about the food, the enzyme, and its name, from bean to related forms:
In the literature
A much-studied enzyme
Nattokinase, the enzyme named from natto and the bacterium that ferments it, and classed within the subtilisin family of serine proteases, has been examined widely across the scientific literature. The discussion is broad and ongoing, and much of it remains open rather than settled.
This article is provided for educational and informational purposes only and has been reviewed against FDA and FTC guidelines to ensure it does not make any health, disease, or treatment claim. Any research or studies referenced were conducted independently and did not involve Codeage products; no Codeage product has been used in any study or to establish, prove, or imply any benefit. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Codeage products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
The name
A food, and its name
Nattokinase is, in the end, an enzyme with a borrowed name, natto for the food it came from, kinase for the family of enzymes it was first taken to resemble. The chemistry later placed it elsewhere, among the serine proteases, yet the name stayed. It is one enzyme among many found in the living world, described here by its origin and its chemistry alone.
An enzyme drawn from a fermented bean, named for the food that carried it, natto, the soybean ferment of Japan.
In closing
The silk of the bean
Read back to its origin, nattokinase is an enzyme that wears its beginning in its name, natto, the fermented soybean food of Japan, bound in the fine silk threads that fermentation draws from the bean. It is an enzyme of the subtilisin family, appearing in the whole food, as an isolated powder, and in standardized preparations.
None of it is a secret, and none of it is a promise. It is simply what the enzyme is, and where its name comes from, one substance among many set within the wider story of how the body sustains itself across time.
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