Experts rubbish Covid vaccine 'detoxification' supplement
- Published on July 18, 2023 at 22:51
- 6 min read
- By Daniel FUNKE, AFP USA
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"Nattokinase is the only enzyme that we're aware of right now that dissolves the spike protein," says Peter McCullough, a US cardiologist who has previously spread misinformation about vaccines, in a clip shared July 14, 2023 on Instagram. "Spike protein is loaded in the body with the Covid-19 infection and definitely with the vaccines."
The paid partnership with Rebel News, a Canadian website whose founder has previously promoted conspiracy theories, accumulated more than 2,000 likes.
In the video, both McCullough and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson mention The Wellness Company, a Florida-based firm selling a product called "Spike Support Formula" for nearly $80 a bottle. McCullough says on his website that he designed the supplement.
"And now the deaths that are occurring after vaccination, this is a human outrage and it's occurring at the end of a hypodermic needle," McCullough says in the ad shared online, referring to nattokinase as a "detoxification supplement." "Isn't it interesting -- natural substances combatting this man-made disaster."
The ad closes with the slogan: "Get back to that pre-Covid feeling."
Similar claims about nattokinase have circulated in other posts on Twitter and Instagram -- including from The Wellness Company itself, which also runs a dating website for unvaccinated people called Unjected. Drew Pinsky, an American media personality known as "Dr Drew," featured the supplement in an April 2023 episode of his web show.
Anti-vaccine advocates have for years promoted supplements and pseudoscientific treatments as a way to "detox" or reverse the purported negative effects of the Covid-19 shots. AFP has previously debunked such claims.
Posts touting nattokinase are similarly unfounded, experts say -- and regulators in the United States and Canada have acted against companies hawking the supplement.
"There is no evidence that nattokinase dissolves the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 in the human body," said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, in a July 17 email. "Even if there was such a substance, why would one want to counteract the protective effect of the vaccine?"
What is nattokinase?
Nattokinase is an enzyme that comes from natto, a traditional Japanese food made from fermented soybeans.
Research suggests the compound "can break down fibrin in the blood that forms clots or affect some factors that characterize Alzheimer's disease," according to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (archived here). A small clinical trial conducted between 2012 and 2013 found nattokinase may benefit people with high blood pressure.
In the video shared online, McCullough cites another study (archived here) to back up his claims. The paper, published in the open-access journal Molecules in August 2022, found nattokinase "exhibits potential for the inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 infection via (spike) protein degradation" and could "be developed as a new generation of drug for the prevention and treatment of Covid-19."
However, the study was conducted in vitro -- and it looked specifically at spike proteins resulting from Covid-19 infection, not messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccination. AFP reached out to the paper's lead author for comment, but a response was not forthcoming.
McCullough's claim presupposes coronavirus spike proteins remain in the body long after vaccination with mRNA shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Both jabs deliver instructions to cells on how to create the proteins, thereby triggering an immune response.
But Health Canada says on its website (archived here) that the proteins "are degraded or excreted within days to weeks from time of immunization." The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also says the particles are temporary.
"After the body produces an immune response, it discards all the vaccine ingredients just as it would discard any information that cells no longer need," the agency says on its website (archived here). "This process is a part of normal body functioning."
AFP has previously debunked claims that coronavirus spike proteins resulting from vaccination are harmful.
Supplement unauthorized
Nattokinase supplements are not authorized for any use related to Covid-19 in the United States or Canada.
The Public Health Agency of Canada told AFP that Health Canada "did not receive any authorization request for nattokinase to treat or prevent Covid."
"Selling unauthorized health products like drugs, medical devices and natural health products or making false or misleading claims to prevent, treat or cure Covid-19 is illegal in Canada," the agency said in a statement emailed July 17. "Health Canada has received advertising complaints for this product and is currently reviewing the claim."
The US Federal Trade Commission has also sent warning letters to companies and individuals promoting nattokinase as a way to treat or prevent Covid-19.
The CDC's Immunization Safety Office told AFP in a July 18 statement that "no studies have shown nattokinase prevents Covid-19 or reduces spike protein concentrations in humans who've received Covid-19 vaccines."
No need for 'detox'
McCullough and others promoting nattokinase claim Covid-19 vaccines are harmful, even lethal. But public health authorities have long said the shots are safe and effective at preventing severe illness and death.
"Covid-19 vaccines were evaluated in tens of thousands of participants in clinical trials," the CDC says on its website (archived here). "The vaccines met the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality needed to support emergency use authorization."
Since then, more than 5.5 billion people around the world have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the World Health Organization (archived here).
The Commonwealth Fund, an American foundation that aims to improve health care quality, estimates that between December 2020 and November 2022, the shots prevented more than three million additional deaths in the United States alone.
"Without vaccination, there would have been nearly 120 million more Covid-19 infections," the group said in its December 2022 analysis (archived here).
The CDC is monitoring some "adverse events of interest" reported after Covid-19 vaccination, including heart conditions such as myocarditis and pericarditis. But such ailments are far more common following Covid-19 infection, and excess deaths in the United States are not linked to the shots.
"The benefits of Covid-19 vaccination continue to outweigh any potential risks," the CDC says on its website (archived here). "CDC recommends everyone ages six months and older get vaccinated to protect against Covid-19 and its potentially severe complications."
AFP reached out to McCullough for comment, but a response was not forthcoming.
AFP has fact-checked other false and misleading claims about vaccines here.
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