Is kimchi carcinogenic or healthy

Q: Is kimchi carcinogenic or healthy

A: Almost any preserved food has a cancer risk.

Hospital nutrition experts explained that because kimchi mainly relies on the fermentation of lactic acid bacteria to generate a large amount of lactic acid rather than the osmotic pressure of salt to inhibit the corruption of microorganisms, so the risk of cancer is very low.
"As long as the lactic acid content reaches a certain concentration, and it is isolated from the air, the purpose of long-term storage can be achieved." "The salt content of kimchi is not high. Kimchi is a unique lactic acid fermented vegetable product, which has been tested by the Korean food department and the salt content is only 2 to 4 percent, which is a low salt food."

However, experts point out that kimchi does have some safety issues during the fermentation process. One of the most interesting ones is known as nitrite.

There are three types of nitrite poisoning: (1) methemoglobin disease; (2) The synthesis of nitrosamines in the body, thus inducing cancer; (3) Resulting in glomerular hypertrophy and damage to kidney function.

In fact, nitrates and nitrites are not only present in pickled foods, but also contain nitrates and nitrites in unpickled, newly picked vegetables.

In the early stage of pickling and storage, the nitrite content of vegetables is low, but due to the nitrate reductase action of hybrid bacteria in the early stage of fermentation, a large amount of nitrate in vegetables is converted to nitrite, which makes the nitrite content increase sharply. At the end of fermentation, the nitrite content will drop to the lowest point, or even disappear.

From the whole lactic acid fermentation process of pickles, the change of nitrite content will appear a nitrite peak, that is, showing a wave shape, the nitrite content is low at the beginning, high in the middle, and finally low.

Therefore, kimchi that has not been fully fermented is indeed carcinogenic. Fully fermented kimchi, on the other hand, is good for your health.

In addition, when we make and eat kimchi, in addition to paying attention to nitrite, we also need to pay attention to whether there are excessive use of various additives used. Especially the purchased kimchi, in the production process, due to the negligence of manufacturers or producers, lax control and other reasons, often excessive preservatives, saccharin, sulfites and so on.