Did you go to a Japanese restaurant, and your friend made you eat a bite of his ordered Natto? Now you are feeling a bit distressed. Don’t worry it can be a side effect of Natto reacting in your body.
Sometimes it happens when you are allergic to the ingredients Natto is made up of and the reactions it can cause. In this article, we will help you by telling you more about Natto and its side effect. Understand the side effects before eating Natto. First of all, it is essential for you to know what Natto actually is. Looking at Natto will confuse you due to its smell and texture. Therefore, we are going to help you learn a lot about Natto.
This article discusses every aspect of Natto as it can confuse you with its visual appearance. However, what we want you to know are the severe problems the side effects of eating can cause. Let’s start by introducing what Natto is.
What Is Natto?
Popular in Japan, Natto is their traditional food. Mostly eaten in breakfast, Natto is made up of fermented soybeans. It is mainly served with chives, mustard, soy sauce, or cooked rice.
The pungent smell of Natto distinguishes it from any other Japanese dish on your table. It smells like old cheese. Most people describe the flavor as nutty with a stringy and slimy texture.
Traditionally, Natto was prepared by wrapping the soybeans in rice straw, but then it was replaced with Styrofoam boxes. The Styrofoam boxes help to add the bacteria directly added to boiled soybeans. This fastens the fermentation process easily.
Why Is Natto Popular In Japan?
Natto is one of the most popular breakfast food in Japan. In the eastern region, it’s widely popular and prepared in almost every corner. There are different reasons why Japanese people like it.
Some people like it due to its pleasant taste and its aroma. Others like to consume it due to its health benefits and the elements it contains. Natto has been a staple breakfast for Japanese for a long time now.
Can You Make Natto Without Fermenting the Soybeans?
The reason many people don’t make Natto is because its time consuming. It’s not difficult, but people try to eat it without completing the entire fermentation process of the soybeans.
Fermenting the soy is the real deal in making Natto. Without fermenting the soybeans, it won’t be traditional Natto. You won’t get the distinguished taste and aroma that natural Natto has.
Side Effects of Eating Natto
You might find Natto tasty and flavorful, however, it can have opposing reactions on your internal system. Natto does benefit your health, but there are some side effects as well.
It is important for you to understand each side effect and make sure that you will be on the safe side if you eat Natto. We don’t want you to get sick that’s why we have done thorough research about Natto and its side effects.
Natto is also prepared to extract an enzyme called Nattokinase, mainly used in medicines. The medicines are used to cure some major conditions. That is why eating natto can have some side effects on you.
After a thorough research we have gathered all the information of the side effects you can have if you eat natto. Here are some of the common side effects your body can go through.
1. Make Your Condition Worse If You Have Hemophilia
Hemophilia is a bleeding disorder found in many people. The disorder doesn’t clot properly. Hemophilia is a serious disorder if you get injured or go through a surgery.
Natto has limited ability to dissolve blood clots. Due to the blood thinning properties found in natto it can make your hemophilia symptoms worse.
2. Promote Bleeding And Bruising
If you use blood thinner the nattokinase enzyme found in natto can promote bleeding and can easily bruise you. Even some blood thinners are up of the enzyme in natto.
Eating natto if you use blood thinners can mess up with you dose and can cause severe side effects to your body. Some of the blood thinners includes warfarin. So before eating natto make sure you don’t use blood thinners in any form.
3. Can Cause Lightheadedness And Headaches
If your blood pressure regularly is low or you have hypotension, then natto is not for you. The nattokinase enzyme is natto is used to regulate high blood pressure by bringing it down. So eating natto if you have hypotension can have some side effects on your body.
Some of the side effects you may face include headaches, lightheadedness, dizziness. You can sometimes also feel like fainting. However, natto should be only eaten if you don’t have hypotension.
These side effects can get severe if you excessively or regularly eat natto. If you face any of these side effects than your blood pressure might be low even if you don’t have hypotension. That is why it is mainly eaten during breakfast to control your high blood pressure.
If you get lightheaded and headaches by natto make sure to consult your doctor immediately and take the prescribed medication. However, we hope that you have to go through this if you
4. May Intensify Antihypertensive Drugs Affect
If you take antihypertensive drugs eating natto can be serious for you. The nattokinase in natto can intensify the drugs affect in your body. Thus, causing severe side effects and can also cause hypotension.
This is also why some doctors may ask you to avoid or ban natto from your life if you take antihypertensive drugs. The mix of these drugs and nattokinase can result in serious illness and reactions. Make sure you don’t take any of these drugs if you still want to eat natto.
5. Gout Disorder
If you eat natto regularly it is advisable to take a test for gout disorder. Many people have faced this disorder due to eating natto regularly. There are couple of reasons why natto can cause problems in your gout.
As you know natto is rich in protein, eating natto can induce your gout. It also increases burden on your kidneys and creating more severe side effects.
If you excessively eat natto, the high protein will not just burden the kidney but can develop kidney diseases and kidney stones. Many doctors and nutritionists support this fact. Therefore, eating natto can cause serious damage to your gout and kidney.
6. Increases Heart Disease Risk
Natto contains a moderate amount of saturated fats. If you eat natto and other food with high saturated fats such as red meat, then you can face some severe side effects. Risk of heart diseases can increase and develop other illness.
It is better to keep the level of saturated fats as low as you can. This can save you from many illness and diseases. Many people say natto is rich in healthy fats but they don’t tell you that saturated fats also comes with it
Therefore, it is advised not to eat natto if you like to eat other food with high saturated fats in your diet. If you develop heart diseases it can then lead to various diseases as well. This is the last thing you would want to get from eating natto.
7. Contributes To Weight Gain
Don’t expect natto to be a low calorie food. Eating natto can increase your daily calorie intake and might exceed the intake limit of an individual. Then it may increase your weight.
Just a cup of natto contains 18% of the daily calorie intake you need. We all know no one can be satisfied with just one cup of natto. If you take other meals, then your daily calorie intake limit will surely increase and resulting into weight gain.
As you increased weight can lead to many other diseases and illness. Diabetes, stroke and hypertension are just some of the weight related disease you might involve yourself in to.
8. Increases Level Of Uric Acid
If you are thinking why your uric acid level keeps getting. It might be due to consumption of natto. You might know what health problems can occur if your uric acid level stays high for a long time.
This is because natto is rich in purine and be unsuitable for individuals with uric acid problem. High uric acid level can lead to permanent issues. Some of them include bone and tissue damage, and fatty liver diseases.
This is one of the most harmful side effect of eating natto. Even doctors advise not to eat natto if the uric acid level in your blood fluctuates every now and then.
9. May Trigger Your Hyperosmia
Hyperosmia is a disorder in which you can experience discomfort and sometimes even illness from certain smells. If you experience hyperosmia from smell of cheese, then natto is not suitable for you.
Natto contains a strong pungent smell. It can trigger your hyperosmia and cause strong discomfort to you. If it your hyperosmia reaches a certain stage it can then also cause some illness.
If you have hyperosmia and the smell of natto triggers you then only chewing gum can help you get normal. However, hyperosmia can last for a while due to the strong smell of natto.
Not eating is not your goal but staying away from it should be your objective. Even trying how the smell of natto is can cause severe side effects due to your hyperosmia.
10. Can Interfere With Your Thyroid Gland
The soybeans that natto consist is also considered as a goitrogen. The goitrogen in natto may interfere with the functioning of your thyroid gland. Proper functioning of thyroid gland is very crucial for your body.
The thyroid produces hormones that keep organs running properly. It also controls how you use energy, burn calories and how fast your heart beats. This is why thyroid is important for your system.
The affect by natto on thyroid can severe and critical diseases. You shouldn’t eat or consume anything that can affect the functioning of your thyroid. This should be an alarming situation for you.
11. High Soy Isoflavones
This is one of the most harmful side effect for women. If you have been eating natto for a long time you should take a break. Natto contains high content of soy isoflavones.
Soy isoflavones help keeping the hormones of women balanced. Excessive consumption of natto can cause serious hormones imbalance. The imbalance can increase the risk of cancer and mainly breast cancer in women.
When Not To Eat Natto
There are some situations when you should ban eating Natto. It can cause serious problems if you. Children are advised not to eat Natto as it can imbalance their system and create problems at a young age. It can also be harmful to hormones and other organs.
It is seriously advisable not to eat Natto if you are going through pregnancy or breastfeeding. It can cause side effects to the life growing inside you. It is better to prevent the situation than to try to fix it.
These are the groups of people who should avoid natto. After pregnancy and breastfeeding women can eat natto but somehow should avoid it.
Final Words
As many people praise the taste of Natto, they surely don’t know the side effects it can cause to your body. We hope we have achieved our objective by conveying the side effects of Natto to you. However, it is also important for you to understand Natto before eating it.
Our main focus was to tell you the side effects, so make sure you are on the safe side before eating the traditional dish. The content of Natto made it important for us to inform you.
If you have friends and family who love to eat Natto, make sure you make them read this. This would help and save them from ruining their health. Every food somehow has side effects, but what triggered us to tell you was the seriousness of the side effects of Natto.