This is an amusing article in the LA Times about some problems with Kimchi, the staple food of Korea, and some political pressures on scientists to, er, play ostrich.
At the Kimchi Research Institute in Busan, hairless mice fed kimchi were reported to develop fewer wrinkles. With a government grant of $500,000, the institute is developing a special anti-aging kimchi that will be marketed this year. Other new products are anti-cancer and anti-obesity kimchi.
Allright!!! Eat kimchi and stave off those wrinkles, cancer and fatness! I'm all over that.
"We are proud that we can use scientific methods to confirm the health benefits of our traditional food," said Park Kun-young, who heads the institute. Kimchi specialists abound here. The library of a kimchi museum in Seoul holds more than 2,000 books about kimchi and thousands more dissertations. ("A Kinetic Model for Lactic Acid Production in Kimchi" was among the recent titles.) New theses are being added at the rate of 300 per year. "I think kimchi practically defines Korean-ness," said Park Chae-lin, curator of the museum.
That's cool. We love ethnic pride. If y'all love kimchi, that's great.
Understandably, perhaps, dissenters on the topic of its healing power are circumspect. "I'm sorry. I can't talk about the health risks of kimchi in the media. Kimchi is our national food," said a researcher at Seoul National University, who begged not to be quoted by name.
Oooh. A little controversy. Some folks don't wanna pray to the Kimchi mantle? Why is that?
Among the papers not to be found in the vast library of the kimchi museum is one published in June 2005 in the Beijing-based World Journal of Gastroenterology titled "Kimchi and Soybean Pastes Are Risk Factors of Gastric Cancer."
Uh-oh. Linking kimchi to cancer? That's like linking chili-cheese burgers to cancer in the U.S. We'd revolt and rebel!!!!
The researchers, all South Korean, report that kimchi and other spicy and fermented foods could be linked to the most common cancer among Koreans. Rates of gastric cancer among Koreans and Japanese are 10 times higher than in the United States.
"We found that if you were a very, very heavy eater of kimchi, you had a 50% higher risk of getting stomach cancer," said Kim Heon of the department of preventive medicine at Chungbuk National University and one of the authors. "It is not that kimchi is not a healthy food — it is a healthy food, but in excessive quantities there are risk factors."
Uh-oh --eatin' too much kimchi, you gonna get stomach cancer! Not so hot -- ease up on the kimchi!
Kim said he tried to publicize the study but a friend who is a science reporter, told him, "This will never be published in Korea."
Hmm. Seems to be a common phenomenom, bridging both sides of the Pacific Ocean:)
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