Lumbrokinase also known as earth dragon enzyme and vermikinase, is a popular cardiovascular health ingredient in recent times.
Similar to nattokinase, Lumbrokinase is also claimed to reduce platelet aggregation, degrade blood clots, reduce blood viscosity, and inhibit the formation of clots, so it is widely used in thrombolytic therapy research for cerebral infarction, coronary heart disease, pulmonary heart disease, and deep vein thrombosis.
In empirical medicine, what are the benefits of Lumbrokinase? Are there any side effects of Lumbrokinase? See text analysis for details
What is Lumbrokinase?
Lumbrokinase is also known as earth dragons in China and have been used for thousands of years as a traditional medicine and food resource in China, Japan and other Far Eastern countries, and are considered a species of potential medicinal value.
The recent popularity of Lumbrokinase is an enzyme extracted from an earthworm variety called Lumbricus rubellus, which promotes the breakdown of fibrinogen, a protein involved in thrombosis.
Thrombolytic agents commonly used to dissolve thrombi are urokinase, streptokinase, and tissue plasminogen activator.
Unlike these thrombolytic drugs, lumbrokinase is specific for fibrin, does not cause excessive bleeding, and has the property of activating plasminogen and directly dissolving fibrin.
Thus, this reduces the risk of severe bleeding and thus minimizes the likelihood of harm.
What are the proven benefits of Lumbrokinase?
1. Lumbrokinase is beneficial to the prevention of ischemic stroke
In the United States, stroke is the fourth leading cause of death and disability in older adults, with approximately 795,000 new or recurrent strokes occurring each year.
Stroke can be divided into ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage, of which ischemic stroke accounts for about 85% of all stroke cases, and common symptoms include hemiaphasia, paralysis or vision loss.
One randomized controlled study (12 months, 310 formally treated patients with ischemic stroke) found that oral Lumbrokinase capsules (600,000 units three times daily) showed better improvement compared with placebo in fibrinogen levels, carotid intimal thickness, fragile plaque detection rate, carotid plaque volume, NIH stroke scale score, and total vascular and cerebrovascular event rates. Note 1
*Conclusion: Oral administration of Lumbrokinase capsules may have a positive effect on secondary prevention of ischemic stroke, but more research is needed to support this
2. Lumbrokinase is beneficial to pulmonary vascular thromboembolism
Pulmonary embolism is an acute and potentially fatal cardiovascular disease in which embolic material usually originates from a blood clot in one of the deep veins of the leg or pelvis, blocking one or more pulmonary arteries, resulting in impaired blood flow and increased right ventricular pressure.
The most common acquired risk factors include increasing age, venous insufficiency, obesity, smoking, rheumatism, cardiovascular disease, prior venous thromboembolism, and antiphospholipid antibody syndrome.
One randomized controlled trial (30 days, 60 patients with acute moderate risk of pulmonary thromboembolism) was divided into two groups, one was Lumbrokinase (with low molecular weight heparin + warfarin) and the control group was low molecular weight heparin + warfarin.
The results showed that compared with the control group, the maximum short axis, left and right ventricular ratio, pulmonary artery systolic blood pressure, pulmonary artery trunk diameter, and NT-proBNP (brain natriuretic peptide precursor) in the Lumbrokinase group had obvious improvement amplitudes. Note 2
*Conclusion: For patients with acute moderate risk pulmonary thromboembolism, the use of Lumbrokinase + low molecular weight heparin + warfarin has a good clinical effect, but limited by the small sample size, more large studies are still needed to support it
3. Lumbrokinase is beneficial to the improvement of angina
The word angina is derived from the Latin angore, meaning suffocation, but also has connotations of anxiety, fear or terror.
Angina pectoris, which occurs in severe chest pain caused by myocardial ischemia due to atherosclerosis of the heart, is the most common presenting symptom of coronary heart disease.
Typical angina can be caused by increased activity (exercise, sex), emotional stress (anger, fear, stress), or cold, wind, and fever.
An open-label, single-arm clinical trial (30 days in 10 patients with coronary heart disease with stable angina pectoris) treated with medication showed that oral Lumbrokinase (300,000 U) improved myocardial perfusion imaging, including summed stress score and summed rest score. Note 3
*Conclusion: For patients with stable angina, oral administration of Lumbrokinase may have a positive help, but limited by the small sample size, more large trials are still needed to support it
Are there any side effects of Lumbrokinase?
Up to now, there are still few studies on the application of Lumbrokinase in humans, and no experiments can verify the safety of long-term use, and possible side effects that have been reported include: nausea, bloating, diarrhea, rash and allergic reactions
Safety precautions (2 contraindications to use)
Do not use by pregnant women, lactating women and children (due to unknown safety)
Do not use anticoagulants, abnormal coagulation function, and 2 weeks before surgery (due to the anticoagulant effect of Lumbrokinase)
Where can I buy the highest quality Lumbrokinase that is recommended by most people?
Doctor's Best, Lumbrokinase, 20 mg, 60 Veggie Caps (Direct shipping from the United States / Worldwide delivery) | |
Product Features: Doctor's Best is a popular health care brand originating from the United States that emphasizes science-based and enjoys extremely high purchase and repurchase rates in major channels. Each serving contains 720,000 units of vermikinase |