In South Korea, kimchi, one of Korea’s major fermented foods, is helpful in preventing allergic diseases, obesity, and anemia, according to a new paper. Korean people consume an average of 62.4 grams of kimchi every day and conventional wisdom has it that kimchi tastes best when it is fermented. This paper confirms that kimchi’s health benefits are maximized when it is fermented.
A team of researchers headed by Professor Cha, Youn-soo at the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at Chonbuk National University came to the conclusion after analyzing 590 kimchi-related papers released at home or abroad over 1995 and 2015.
The team found that among the 590 papers, about 149 dealt with kimchi’s health benefits, of which 17 targeted human beings. In most of the 149 papers, kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria were found to prevent oxidative stress, cancers, dyslipidemia, and high blood pressure, and to ease infections.