Nattokinase and Pine Bark Extract for Healthy Circulation

By John Neustadt, ND

Circulation is easy to take for granted until you stop and think about everything it does. With every heartbeat, blood carries oxygen and nutrients where they are needed and carries metabolic byproducts away. Your blood vessels constantly adjust to the needs of walking, working, exercising, and resting. At the same time, your body carefully balances normal clotting with fibrinolysis, the natural process that helps remodel fibrin after it has done its job.^1,2

A smart formula for healthy circulation supports more than one of these processes. The research for combining these two nutrients is even stronger now than it was nearly twenty years ago when I formulated NattoPine. Its fibrinolytic enzyme and polyphenol-rich botanical blend support the essential physiological processes required for healthy blood flow and circulation, and it is backed by NBI’s Healthy Circulation Guarantee.

Fibrin and Fibrinolytic Activity: Why They Matter for Healthy Circulation

When a blood vessel is injured, the body forms a clot to help control bleeding. Fibrin is a protein that forms the mesh-like framework of that clot. It helps hold platelets and blood cells in place while the body repairs the injured area.¹

Fibrinolytic activity is the body’s normal, carefully regulated process for breaking down fibrin after it has served its purpose. In this process, the enzyme plasmin helps dissolve the fibrin network, allowing the clot to be cleared as healing progresses.²

Healthy blood clotting depends on the balance between these two processes. The body needs to make fibrin when it is needed, and it also needs normal fibrinolytic activity to help remodel fibrin afterward. This ongoing balance supports normal blood flow and healthy circulation.^1,2

Nattokinase is of interest because it has been studied for its relationship to normal fibrinolytic activity and fibrinogen metabolism. That makes it a natural fit in a formula designed to support healthy blood clotting, healthy blood flow, and healthy circulation.^6-8

Antioxidants and Blood Vessel Health

Antioxidants protect the body from oxidative stress. Oxidative stress occurs when reactive oxygen species, sometimes called free radicals, outpace the body’s antioxidant defenses. Antioxidants help maintain this normal balance and protect cells and tissues from oxidative damage.³

Blood vessels are lined by a thin layer of cells called the endothelium. Healthy endothelial cells form a flexible internal lining that responds to the body’s changing needs by supporting blood vessel expansion and contraction as blood pumps through them, as well as blood flow and fluidity. Nitric oxide is an important signal produced by the endothelium; it helps blood vessels relax and supports normal circulation.^4,5

Oxidative stress can interfere with normal endothelial signaling, including nitric oxide activity. Antioxidant support helps protect healthy endothelial function and, in turn, supports blood-vessel health and healthy circulation.^3,4

Blood vessels are more than tubes through which blood flows. They also play a role in blood clotting. The endothelium helps coordinate the body’s normal balance between forming blood clots and breaking them down. By supporting healthy blood vessels and antioxidant defenses, polyphenol-rich ingredients such as pine bark extract complement a formula designed to support healthy circulation, healthy blood flow, and normal blood clotting processes.^5,12

Nattokinase and Normal Fibrinolytic Activity

Nattokinase is an enzyme isolated from natto, a traditional Japanese food made by fermenting soybeans with Bacillus subtilis. Researchers first identified nattokinase because of its fibrinolytic activity. That makes it different from the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant blends often used in circulation formulas. Researchers study nattokinase for its relationship to the body’s normal fibrinolytic system and to markers involved in healthy blood flow and fibrinogen metabolism.^6-8

For a circulation formula, nattokinase provides an enzyme-based component with a well-defined research history. Its studies center on normal fibrinolytic activity, fibrinogen metabolism, and selected coagulation-related measurements. These activities make nattokinase a natural foundation for formulas designed to support healthy circulation and healthy blood flow.

Support for Normal Fibrinolytic Activity

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial, 12 healthy young men took one 2,000 fibrinolytic unit (100 mg) dose of nattokinase or placebo. Blood was then drawn two, four, six, and eight hours later, and their clotting proteins were measured. The researchers tested D-dimer, fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products, factor VIII activity, antithrombin, and activated partial thromboplastin time.

D-dimer is a protein fragment left in the bloodstream when a blood clot dissolves. Factor VIII is a protein that helps the body form clots to stop bleeding after an injury. Antithrombin is a natural anticoagulant protein, and activated partial thromboplastin time tests how long it takes for a blood clot to form. Measuring these, along with fibrin/fibrinogen, gives a more complete picture of blood clotting health compared to only measuring one or two lab values.

The results showed a significant increase in D-Dimer, fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products, blood antithrombin, and activated partial thromboplastin time, with all measured values remaining within the normal physiological range. In contrast, Factor VIII activity significantly decreased.⁷

The study shows that oral nattokinase can influence normal physiological pathways involved in fibrin turnover that support healthy blood clotting and circulation. This is the basis for its role in NattoPine: supporting normal blood clotting and fibrinolytic activity, normal fibrinogen metabolism, and healthy blood flow.

Fibrinogen Metabolism and Healthy Blood Flow

Another human study followed 45 participants who took 4,000 fibrinolytic units (200 mg) of nattokinase daily for two months. The investigators reported significant declines over time in fibrinogen and factors VII and VIII, all proteins related to normal coagulation and fibrinogen metabolism. These findings add to the human research on nattokinase and normal fibrinogen metabolism.⁸

Fibrinogen is a normal blood protein that plays a role in the body’s clotting process. By supporting normal fibrinogen metabolism, nattokinase complements the body’s ongoing balance between clot formation and fibrinolytic activity. This is an important part of NattoPine’s broader support for healthy circulation and healthy blood flow.

This balance is one reason nattokinase has attracted so much interest. Clotting and fibrinolysis are not opposing problems to be solved; they are coordinated, normal functions of a healthy body. A clot forms when needed to protect the body, and fibrinolytic activity helps remodel fibrin afterward. Nattokinase gives NattoPine a targeted way to support these normal processes without turning a circulation formula into a catch-all blend.^1,2,6-8

Healthy Blood Pressure Support

Nattokinase has also been studied for blood-pressure support. In one eight-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, adults with untreated systolic blood pressure of 130 to 159 mmHg received 2,000 fibrinolytic units of nattokinase or placebo. The nattokinase group had modest placebo-adjusted reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure. A second eight-week trial in North America also reported favorable blood-pressure findings, especially in certain participant subgroups.^9,10

Taken together, the research supports the role of nattokinase in supporting healthy blood pressure already within the normal range.^9,10

Blood pressure reflects many influences, including blood-vessel function, dietary pattern, physical activity, stress, and sleep. The blood-pressure studies add another dimension to the nattokinase research and help explain why it belongs in a formula for healthy circulation. NattoPine is designed to support the normal physiology that helps the circulatory system respond to everyday demands.

Pinus massoniana Bark Extract and Antioxidant Support

Pinus massoniana pine bark extract (PMBE) brings a different but highly relevant kind of support. Pine bark is naturally rich in proanthocyanidins, a family of polyphenols that has been extensively investigated for antioxidant actions. These compounds help explain why pine bark is used in formulas intended to support blood-vessel health, a healthy inflammatory response, and antioxidant defenses.^11,12

Pine bark extract adds a second biochemical pathway. Its proanthocyanidins provide antioxidant support and are of scientific interest for vascular and inflammatory signaling. Rather than duplicating nattokinase, pine bark extract adds a complementary contribution to the formula’s support for healthy circulation, a healthy inflammatory response, and blood-vessel health.

What Makes Pine Bark Proanthocyanidins Different

Proanthocyanidins are a broad family of plant polyphenols found in foods and botanicals. Their chemical structure gives them antioxidant potential, and research has explored how they interact with normal inflammatory signaling, oxidative balance, and vascular biology. After digestion, smaller proanthocyanidin-derived compounds can circulate in the body, adding to the scientific interest in these plant compounds.¹²

In NattoPine, Pinus massoniana pine bark extract supplies this botanical, polyphenol-rich component. That choice complements nattokinase particularly well: one ingredient centers on normal fibrinolytic activity, while the other supplies antioxidant support for the tissues and signaling systems involved in healthy blood-vessel function.

Human Research on Pinus massoniana

In a randomized, placebo-controlled trial, healthy adults aged 55 to 75 used a daily polyphenol-rich supplement containing Pinus massoniana bark extract for 12 weeks. Compared with placebo, the intervention significantly reduced plasma malondialdehyde, a marker of lipid oxidation, at six and 12 weeks. The researchers concluded that the Pinus massoniana-containing supplement reduced oxidative stress in healthy older adults.¹¹

This human research is especially useful because it examined Pinus massoniana bark extract—the same species used in NattoPine. It highlights the antioxidant contribution this botanical brings to a circulation-focused formula. NattoPine supplies 300 mg of Pinus massoniana pine bark extract per two-capsule serving.

Antioxidant Support for Blood Vessel Health

Your blood vessels are living tissue, not passive plumbing. Their inner lining responds to signals from the bloodstream, nutrition, physical activity, and the normal demands of aging. Proanthocyanidins have drawn scientific attention because they can act as antioxidants in laboratory systems and because their smaller metabolites may be absorbed after digestion. Reviews of the research describe antioxidant and vascular actions for this family of plant compounds.^11,12

In laboratory and preclinical studies, Pinus massoniana bark extract has been shown to reduce markers of lipid oxidation and increase antioxidant enzyme activity—effects consistent with the antioxidant properties of proanthocyanidins as a class.¹³

The Evidence Supporting a Combined Formula

The research behind NattoPine began with focusing on two distinct areas of circulatory physiology. Nattokinase has been studied for normal fibrinolytic activity and blood-flow-related measurements. Pinus massoniana pine bark extract provides proanthocyanidins with antioxidant activity. Bringing them together allows the formula to support the body’s normal circulatory processes from two complementary directions.

Nattokinase and pine bark extract do not compete for the same role in the formula. Nattokinase research gives the formula a foundation in normal fibrin turnover and blood-flow-related physiology. Pinus massoniana research connects the formula to antioxidant support in healthy older adults. Together, these ingredients support healthy circulation in a way that is both scientifically grounded and easy to understand.

By placing the two ingredients in one formula, NattoPine brings together the evidence-informed roles of an enzyme studied for fibrinolysis-related markers and a botanical studied for antioxidant activity to support healthy circulation, blood flow, antioxidant, and blood-vessel health. NattoPine combines 3,650 fibrinolytic units (182.5 mg) of nattokinase with 300 mg of Pinus massoniana pine bark extract per serving. It is a great addition to the foundations of cardiovascular wellness: regular movement, a nourishing dietary pattern, restorative sleep, and not smoking.

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