Even though kimchi originally comes from Korea, nowadays it can be found on many menus around the world, whether or not the restaurant is Korean or not at all. The fermented cabbage is often used as a side dish, giving a cooked meal a spicy and sour extra. Besides its taste, kimchi does have a long list of health benefits. Even though all of them are still being studied, these are some of the presumed benefits of kimchi.
1. Nutrients
When looking at the ingredient list, the fact that kimchi is stuffed with nutrients shouldn’t come as a surprise. As it’s essentially vegetables and spices, all vitamins and other nutrients such as fibres and proteins which they contain also translate into your kimchi. However, do stick to unpasteurised kimchi to get as much healthy benefits as possible and try to find a variant with as little salt as possible in order to not go overboard with your salt intake.
2. Gut health
Just how fermented dairy products, such as yoghurt, are stuffed with probiotics, so is kimchi and other kinds of fermented vegetables. According to the Cleveland Clinic, “probiotics function as a food source for your gut’s microorganisms. (…) When probiotics are broken down by the microorganisms in your gut, different short-chain fatty acids are created depending on the kind of probiotic. As a result, these short-chain fatty acids do a number of things like provide energy to your colon cells, help with mucus production and aid in inflammation and immunity.”
3. Weight control
A recent study, carried out by researchers at the Chung-Ang University in South Korea, has proven that kimchi can have a positive effect on maintaining a healthy weight. This can be explained by the fact that when our gut microbiome is healthy, it creates short chain fatty acids – as mentioned above – which communicate with our brain. One of the results: we feel more saturated and therefore tend to eat less. Eating just a little bit of kimchi every now and then won’t help though, as the scientists based their results on 150 grams of kimchi a day for men and 100 grams for women.
4. Heart
Kimchi is full of beta-carotene and other antioxidant compounds. “Antioxidants help stabilise damaged cells that can accelerate the disease process, so having a high antioxidant status can protect you from chronic conditions, like heart disease”, New York City-based dietitian Samantha Cassetty told Women’s Health. Moreover, a study from 2017 proves that biologically active peptides, produced when fermenting foods, can help lower blood pressure and can therefore be beneficial for our heart.
5. Anti-inflammatory
“Fermented vegetables such as kimchi, sauerkraut, fermented soy products, and beverages such as fermented teas are garnering attention as a source of natural anti-inflammatory bioactive compounds. These products should be considered functional foods as they provide both nutritional and therapeutic effects against various inflammatory chronic disorders”, a study from 2023 found. However, as only little research has been done towards the matter, the scientists also underlined the need for more insight.
