Can kimchi fight SARS? Lab finds health benefits

A local research team has found that the lactic acid bacteria in kimchi produce strong antibiotics. But the research, conducted at Seoul National University, was unable to determine whether eating kimchi made Koreans and Japanese immune to severe acute respiratory syndrome, a view widely held in Asia. The Microbial Genomics and Application Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology mapped out the genetic makeup of the two most common lactic acid bacteria found in kimchi. In the process, the research team said it found that one bacterium, pediococcus pentosaceus, has a supreme ability to suppress the growth of harmful bacteria in the human body. “Those antibiotic materials were strong enough to kill Pseudomonas aeruginosa or salmonella bacteria, which cause food poisoning,” a member of the team said. Another lactic acid bacterium, leuconostoc citreum, contributes to forming the distinctive taste of kimchi as it ferments, said Kang Sa-ouk, a professor of bioscience at Seoul National University and one of the leaders of the research. Whether the antibiotic properties of the fermented vegetables are sufficient to support the view that the food was effective in relatively insulating Korea and Japan, the two countries that eat most kimchi, from the SARS epidemic, could not be tested because of the lack of a SARS specimen, the research team said. by Park Bang-ju