Looking into Natto

Anyone know what to think of this? It's fermented soy but I've looked into it alot and it seems very healthy. Even potentialy very good for hair. Soy in an unfermented state definitely seems like something to avoid but the fermented Natto seems to have some very powerful health effects. A large portion of the japanese people eat this stuff everyday for breakfast and they don't seem to lose hair from it (japanese people eat very little unfermented soy in general).

Any thoughts?

I think soy isoflavone extracts can be good for hair, especially for equol producers.

How to know if one is equol producer?

Everyone has the potential to produce equol, it simply comes down to your intestinal flora. Which probably takes us back to your original question and the answer is I do not know. You could probably get tested for it.

Yeah everyone has the potiential, but not everyone does in actuality.

Diet plays a role which is hardly surprising. Vegetetarians and people who consume alot of green tea are statistically significant more likely to produce equol. It be found in the urine in larger amounts in strong producers.

To add to the complexity of this, some studies showed that meat consumption increased equol production. Which is odd considering the vegetarian factor.

Also green tea consumption is also associated with higher equol production.

Apparently there is a way to create equol status, but unfortunately, it is currently a secret. I attempted to get this information but was unsuccessful.

What the heck is equol?

Equol is an end-product metabolised from daidzein given the right anaerobic conditions (right microflora for starters). It is interesting for fighting hair loss since it binds selectively and with high affinity to dht and some estrogen receptors.

I decided to look into the availablity of Equol again, and I think I found something.

First I found this:

http://www.ideaconnection.com/technology-for-sale/15-Use-of-Equol-for-Treating-Skin-Hair-Brain-and-Prostat.html

Then I found this:

http://www.drugstore.com/qxp208809_333181_sespider/nutriplus/equol.htm

Is this real?

Get this, a chocolate bar with 2 mg of Equol in it:

http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=197597

Apparently, this is Fermented Soybean Germ, which they call Equol.

Icanbeatthis - Natto contains Vitamin K2, and Nattokinase, which reduces fibrinogen levels (a very good thing). Vitamin K2 is good for hair in an indirect way. Check out this page for more info on that.

http://www.freewebs.com/immortalhair/physiology.htm

I wonder about that 2 milligram Equol Product. Anyway check out this recruitment.

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00787007?spons=%22Ausio+Pharmaceuticals%2C+LLC%22&spons_ex=Y&rank=1

Caustic, there should come some data (results) from that study really soon.

That supplement sure looks like equol, fermented from soy, that sounds right.

Thanks for taking this extra look for equol, I looked for it on not long ago and did not find this supplement or any other!

Caustic, I do not see what benefit there is to anyone by keeping such a secret, since it
bars other people from enjoying potiential health benefits and nothing else.

I guess that one would have to take the right kind of probiotics together with the right prebiotic and diet for a good year to establish the right microflora.

I think you should try get this information again, since many people might enjoy trying it out and benefit from it, and why not?!

CausticSymmetry wrote:To add to the complexity of this, some studies showed that meat consumption increased equol production. Which is odd considering the vegetarian factor.

Also green tea consumption is also associated with higher equol production.

Apparently there is a way to create equol status, but unfortunately, it is currently a secret. I attempted to get this information but was unsuccessful.

Shouldn't "real" equol be produced inside the body?

Yes, it should. Equol does not exist anywhere in a natural form except as a product of metabolisation.

But not nessesarily inside a human gut. It sounds plausible that they have fermented soy isoflavones and ended up with Equol.