Ingredients of Bloodflow Formula
Our Bloodflow Formula contains two ingredients- nattokinase and pine bark extract. Both have excellent safety profile and multiple research studies have shown that they are highly effective in increasing blood circulation and dissolving clots. They have many other benefits as well such as reducing blood pressure, decreasing LDL, improving sexual and cardiovascular health.
Nattokinase Dissolves Blood Clots
Nattokinase is an enzyme extracted from natto, a Japanese traditional fermented food. It is produced during the fermentation of soybeans by Bacillus subtilis, a friendly bacteria.
In human body, thrombus (clot) is constantly generated and degraded. Clots are healthy and lifesaving when they form to stop bleeding from injuries or damage to blood vessels. Once the wound has healed, body dissolves the clot. While the body produces many enzymes that aid in clotting, it produces only one enzyme, plasmin, to dissolve clots. With age, the activity of plasmin weakens, and a clot is more likely to form. Nattokinase degrades and eventually dissolves clots via three pathways (See Figure 1)-
- It directly degrades fibrin (*1). Venous clots are made of fibrin.
- It promotes clot dissolving substance urokinase (*2),
- It degrades Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor (PAI-1). This increases available tissue Plasminogen Activator (t-PA) which, in turn, increases plasmin (*3).
Figure1- How Nattokinase Dissolves Blood Clots1
Pine Bark Extract Enhances Healthy Circulation
Pine bark extract, as the name suggests, is derived from the inner bark of pine tree. Pine bark extract contains an abundance of oligomeric proanthocyanidin compounds (OPCs). OPCs are one of the nature’s most powerful anti-oxidants. OPCs improve blood circulation through multiple pathways –
- They bind to the collagen in blood vessel walls making capillaries stronger and more elastic, which subsequently improves circulation and reduces blood pressure.
- They reduce capillary permeability and fragility. Capillaries are tiny blood vessels. Increase in their permeability causes them to leak fluid in surrounding tissues, leading to swelling and edema.
- They activate the enzyme endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) to generate nitric oxide (NO) more efficiently from the precursor amino acid L-arginine. NO inhibits platelet aggregation and reduces chances of blood clot formation. NO also stimulates Guanylate cyclase (GC) to produce cGMP from GTP. CGMP relaxes smooth muscles and leads to improved blood flow (See Figure 2).
Figure 2- How Pine Bark Extract Improves Circulation2
Unlike other anti-oxidants, OPCs have long-lasting anti-inflammatory actions. Shortly after intake, the smaller active constituents of pine bark exert their anti-inflammatory effects. About five to six hours later, active metabolites appear in the blood and the anti-inflammatory action persists, thus providing protection for the whole day.
References
1H. Sumi. “Basic and clinical aspects of Japanese traditional food natto.” 1, 49 (1994).
2Ledda et al. “Investigation of a complex plant extract for mild to moderate erectile dysfunction in a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled, parallel‐arm study.” BJU international 106.7 (2010).