One more time, Natto has proven itself to be the king of superfoods. I have been sharing with you the health benefits of these Japanese fermented soybeans in this blog.
It contains vitamin K
A Dutch Researcher Says Natto Might Prevent Us From Developing a Severe COVID-19 Condition
It contains 5-ALA
It contains the highest amount of spermidine, autophagy activating polyamine, among spermidine-containing foods.
Natto was chosen to be number 1 among the 10 healthiest foods by 300 doctors.
Top 10 Healthiest Foods in 2019 Doctors Have Selected in Japan
And now, this news came in.
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Researchers have found that extract made from the sticky, strong smelling natto may inhibit the ability of the virus that causes COVID-19 to infect cells.
The team published its results on July 13th in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications.
“Traditionally, Japanese people have assumed that natto is beneficial for their health,” said paper author Tetsuya Mizutani, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Research at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (CEPiR-TUAT). “In recent years, research studies have revealed scientific evidence for this belief. In this study, we investigated natto’s antiviral effects on SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1), which causes respiratory disease in cattle.”
Natto is made by fermenting soybeans with Bacillus subtilis, a bacteria found in plant and in soil. The researchers prepared two natto extracts from the food, one with heat and one without. They applied the extracts to sets of lab-cultured cells from cattle and from humans. One set was infected with SARS-CoV-2, while the other set was infected with BHV-1.
When treated with the natto extract made without heat, both SARS-CoV-2 and BHV-1 lost the ability to infect cells. However, neither virus appeared to be affected by the heat-treated natto extract.
“We found what appears to be a protease or proteases — proteins that metabolize other proteins — in the natto extract directly digests the receptor binding domain on the spike protein in SARS-CoV-2,” Mizutani said, noting that the protease appears to break down in heat, losing the ability to digest proteins and letting the virus remain infectious.
The spike protein sits on the virus’s surface and binds to a receptor on host cells. With an inactive spike protein, SARS-CoV-2 cannot infect healthy cells. The researchers found a similar effect on BHV-1.
“We also confirmed that the natto extract has the same digestive effects on the receptor binding domain proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 mutated strains, such as the Alpha variant,” Mizutani said.
While the results are promising, Mizutani said, he also cautioned that further studies are needed to identify the exact molecular mechanisms at work. He also stressed that the research does not provide any evidence of reduced viral infection simply by eating natto. Once the components are identified and their functions verified, the researchers plan to advance their work to clinical studies in animal models.
“Although there are vaccines for COVID-19, we do not know how they effective they may be against every variant,” Mizutani said. “It will also take time to vaccinate everyone, and there are still reports of breakthrough cases, so we need to make treatments for those who develop COVID-19. This work may offer a big hint for such pharmaceutical design.”
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For details, please read this article
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/904153
We still don’t know for certain, but knowing all these other benefits, too, who doesn’t want to include it in your diet?
https://ikigaidiet.com/category/natto-recipe/
The Ikigai Diet: The Secret Japanese Diet to Health and Longevity
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