Kimchi and Cancer by Dr. Joseph C. Kim

Surprisingly, there are no recent articles on PubMed if you search for "kimchi and cancer" from 2015.

Does kimchi cause cancer or does kimchi prevent cancer? Maybe it depends on the type of cancer. Maybe it depends on the person. Let's ask Shin-Hye Kwak, Young-Mi Cho, Geon-Min Noh, and Ae-Son Om. Cancer Preventive Potential of Kimchi Lactic Acid Bacteria (Weissella cibaria, Lactobacillus plantarum). J Cancer Prev. 2014 Dec;19(4):253-8. doi: 10.15430/JCP.2014.19.4.253. Epub 2014 Dec 30. The number of death due to cancer has been increasing in Korea. Chemotherapy is known to cause side effects because it damages not only cancerous cells but healthy cells. Recently, attention has focused on food-derived chemopreventive and anti-tumor agents or formulations with fewer side effects. Kimchi, most popular and widely consumed in Korea, contains high levels of lactic acid bacteria and has been shown to possess chemopreventive effects. This review focuses on Weissella cibaria and Lactobacillus plantarum, the representatives of kimchi lactic acid bacteria, in terms of their abilities to ...

Cancer cells can be detected in the blood as circulating tumor cells. Author Eric T Kimchi and others report on their findings in Cancer Biol Ther. 2015 Mar 25:0. Kaifi JT1, Kunkel M, Das A, Harouaka RA, Dicker DT, Li G, Zhu J, Clawson GA, Yang Z, Reed MF, Gusani NJ, Kimchi ET, Staveley-O'Carroll KF, Zheng SY, El-Deiry WS. Circulating tumor cell isolation during resection of colorectal cancer lung and liver metastases: a prospective trial with different detection techniques. ABSTRACT Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) metastasectomy improves survival, however most patient develop recurrences. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are an independent prognostic marker in stage IV CRC. We hypothesized that CTCs can be enriched during metastasectomy applying different isolation techniques. Methods: 25 CRC patients undergoing liver (16 (64%)) or lung (9 (36%)) metastasectomy were prospectively enrolled (clinicaltrial.gov identifier: NCT01722903). Central venous (liver) or radial ar...

Koreans have a higher risk for certain cancers. Why? Maybe it's the kimchi. Many studies have found links between diet and cancer. The summary estimates of the association between dietary factors and cancer risk were investigated using previously reported studies of the Korean population. Gastric cancer risk was inversely associated with the high intake of soy foods [OR (95% CI): 0.32 (0.25-0.40) for soybean, 0.56 (0.45-0.71) for soybean curd, and 0.67 (0.46-0.98) for soymilk], allium vegetables [OR (95% CI): 0.37 (0.26-0.53) for green onion, 0.54 (0.40-0.73) for garlic, and 0.54 (0.35-0.85) for onion], fruits [OR (95% CI): 0.61 (0.42-0.88)], and mushrooms [OR (95% CI): 0.43 (0.21-0.88)]. Salt and Kimchi were associated with an increased gastric cancer risk [OR (95% CI): 1.92 (1.52-2.43) and 2.21 (1.29-3.77), respectively]. Colorectal cancer risk was positively associated with meat intake [OR (95% CI): 1.25 (1.15-1.36)]. Total soy products, soybean curd, and soymilk showed an inve...

October is breast cancer awareness month. Everyone is wearing pink. Does eating kimchi cause or prevent breast cancer? I think the answer is: it depends. It depends on your other health conditions, your risk factors, and ultimately your genetics. For some, eating kimchi could be a health benefit. For others, it could be an additional risk factor. It also depends on how much kimchi you eat, the type of kimchi you're eating, and what else you eat (your diet composition).

As the world watches what is happening in Africa with the Ebola outbreak, others are writing and asking the question " can kimchi cure Ebola ?"  There are no scientific studies that have been published in the medical literature to support such a claim.

You may find some articles online that suggest that kimchi has anti-cancer effects. Be very cautious when reading and interpreting those articles. There are many types of kimchi. Since kimchi is primarily made of vegetables, it's going to be low in saturated fat and relatively low in calories. Compared to many unhealthy foods (like fried foods, greasy foods, candy, and other junk food), kimchi could be considered fairly healthy. In fact, maybe kimchi is a healthy food as long as you don't have the genetic predisposition that will put you at risk for developing cancer if you eat kimchi. Maybe in the era of personalized medicine and genomics we'll be able to identify which people may benefit from eating kimchi and which people will be harmed. Right now, we can only go based on large population studies that do not effectively segment individuals based on their genetic profile, their risk profile, etc. I don't consider kimchi to be a health food. I don't know if k...