Sodium in Kimchi: What Do We Know?

I am writing in response to the April 2017 Food Medicine & Health column, “Kimchi: Salt and Spice and Everything Nice—or Not?” Koreans’ average sodium intake from kimchi has been overestimated and focused on [as a] major risk factor for gastric cancer, despite reduction of the salinity in the market.

During fermentation of kimchi, nitrosamine decreases or is detected at trace amounts. I discreetly suggest that compared with diets based on processed foods, kimchi has high levels of potassium, various nutrients, phytochemicals, microbes, and metabolites, which may have many salutary effects. As a result, salt in kimchi cannot be considered a major risk factor of gastric cancer.

Hyun Ju Kim, Industrial Technology Research Group, World Institute of Kimchi