
It’s been a staple at Korean dinner tables for centuries, and the fermented veggie concoction known as kimchi is increasingly familiar to Americans. Now, Korean researchers say a few servings of the spicy food each day might help stave off weight gain. “Consumption of 1–3 servings/day of total kimchi was associated with a lower risk of obesity in men,” and smaller amounts were linked to similar trends among women, concluded a team led by Sangah Shin. She’s with the department of food and nutrition at Chung Ang University, in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. However, there were a couple of downsides to eating too much kimchi, her team added. First, the popular side dish contains a lot of salt, which is never great for health. Secondly, beyond the one-to-three servings per day that did show a benefit, eating more kimchi was linked with obesity overall, the study found. The research was based on data from almost 116,000 Koreans over 40 who were participating in an ongoing health study. About 79,000 were women and about 39,000 were men, and they averaged 51 years of age. Among other factors, the study used questionnaires to track what folks ate each day, and BMI and waist measurements were also obtained. As for “serving sizes,” that varied based on what type of kimchi (usually made from cabbage and/or radish) was eaten. For… read on > read on >