Kimchi is actually a fermented food made by fermenting fresh vegetables with salt. The usual practice is to put the vegetables in a wide-mouth jar, pour salt water, and then use lactic acid bacteria fermentation to break down the sugars in the food and release the acid, so that eat up the kimchi is sour, and, the fermentation of the acid can also play a role in inhibiting the growth of harmful microorganisms. Kimchi contains a lot of nitrites, can cause cancer?

One of the most common reasons for saying that kimchi is unhealthy is that it has a lot of nitrites, which can cause cancer.

In fact, this statement is too one-sided, not all kimchi contains a lot of nitrites, kimchi whether a lot of nitrites with its fermentation process.

Nitrogen is a widespread element in nature, and nitrogen fertilizer is necessary for plant growth. Plants absorb nitrogen from the environment and eventually convert it into amino acids in the body, a process that inevitably produces nitrates. And there are also some reductase enzymes in plants that will reduce some of the nitrates to nitrites. Therefore, all plants contain nitrates and nitrites.

Kimchi is made from fresh vegetables, and naturally it will inevitably contain nitrates and nitrites.

Fermenting bacteria have a big impact on kimchi during the process of making kimchi. Research on kimchi has found that if pure acetic acid bacteria or pure lactic acid bacteria are used in fermentation, it will not lead to excessive nitrite because these bacterial activities almost do not produce nitrite.

However, in daily life, people make their own kimchi sauerkraut, and there is no pure bacterial fermentation conditions, inevitably contaminated with stray bacteria, but it does have trouble producing nitrites. But we do not have to worry too much. Because as long as the kimchi fermentation time is long enough, the nitrite content will not be a lot of normal consumption do not have to worry about.

Research has found that with the prolongation of the pickling time, the nitrite content will be gradually reduced, and finally even basically disappeared. Specifically which time point nitrite most, different pickles will certainly be different, but generally are the first half month or so. So as long as you're not eating that freshly pickled pickle, you don't have to worry about nitrites.

Pickles contain lactobacilli, eating health?

The reason for saying that kimchi is healthy is the lactobacilli and lactic acid in kimchi. There are many claims that kimchi contains probiotics - lactobacilli and lactic acid produced by fermentation, which is good for health. In fact, this also exaggerates the role of kimchi.

Kimchi does contain lactic acid bacteria as well as lactic acid produced during fermentation. But that amount is still usually too small, and most of it is in the juice from the soaking process, which we don't drink.

Whether probiotics will have a healthy effect on the human body, three conditions need to be met:

1. need a specific strain of bacteria, must be beneficial to the health of the bacteria;

2. sufficient number of intestines, there are millions of billions of bacteria, the number of fewer, can not produce the effect of a time to eat more than one hundred million live bacteria, it is generally difficult to have a role in the health of the, and have to be in the A period of time to take continuously

3. There is a sufficient amount of live bacteria can reach the large intestine. In addition to seeing if it has any, it's more important to see if it's live bacteria, how much there is, and how much of it can or does get into our intestines.

Thousands of studies have been conducted by scientists over the past few decades, and many studies have been published for boosting digestion, improving diarrhea, diarrhea, boosting immunity, allergies, cancer, women's health, etc. Unfortunately, there is not enough evidence for most of the health benefits of probiotic products on the human body. For one thing, the number of live bacteria in these products is very small, and for another, it is difficult to survive the action of the human gastrointestinal tract.

The European Food Safety Authority EFSA assessment also concluded that there was insufficient evidence for health claims such as probiotics boosting immunity and improving gut health. So if you think kimchi is healthy just because it has a bit of lactobacillus and lactic acid in it, you're missing the point.

The main thing you need for a safe kimchi is to pickle it long enough. Usually, we buy in the supermarket market pickles, pickles is the least need to worry about nitrites, because they are pickled for a long time, usually a few months, nitrites have long been broken down or used and disappeared.

As for those packaged pickles sold in supermarkets, as long as they are produced by regular manufacturers and have the QS mark, they are generally considered safe to eat, after all, their products have strict quality control and supervision, and the risk of excessive nitrite is very small.

What we need to worry about is the kind of bulk kimchi sold at farmers' markets or roadside stalls, because they are unlikely to be made with pure strains of bacteria, and many merchants may not have enough time to pickle them in order to sell them as quickly as possible.

Therefore, it is recommended that you try to buy regular products at regular places when you buy kimchi.

Can you eat kimchi?

So does this mean we can eat kimchi openly? Actually, not really. Because, with or without nitrites, all kimchi has a lot of salt , are high salt food, eat more is not good for health.

While today's pickles can be sweetened and preservatives added to help preserve them in order to meet consumer demand, the salt content has dropped significantly, however, usually, pickles are still 3% to 8% salt content. This level is not low.

And the amount of vitamin C in kimchi is minimal compared to fresh vegetables, and it's not suitable for eating large quantities, much less fresh vegetables, just because you're eating kimchi.

A 2009 review article summarizing studies conducted in Asia found that regular kimchi eaters were about twice as likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. Korea and Japan, both big kimchi countries, still have very high rates of stomach cancer, and many have suggested that it may be because of their regular use of pickled kimchi.

Food and health data summarized by China's Nutrition Society show that from current scientific research, eating too much pickled food increases the risk of esophageal cancer, stomach cancer and high blood pressure, as well as the risk of breast cancer in women. The reason may be because pickles contain high levels of sodium, a substance that also increases the risk of stomach cancer.

The WHO rates kimchi as a group 2B carcinogen.

So kimchi is still not something you should eat too much of.

How should you eat kimchi?

Kimchi taste sour, but also appetizing to increase appetite, many people still want to eat some. So, how to eat healthy kimchi?

1. Eat not excessive. The biggest problem with kimchi is its high salt content, so eat it sparingly, and eat it occasionally to taste the freshness on the line.

2. Use it as a substitute for salt in cooking. Although the vitamin C content is very low, but the pickle is rich in potassium and dietary fiber, anyway, cooking to put salt, why not use the pickle to replace the salt, as long as the control of salinity, but also than the direct salt to increase some minerals and dietary fiber, and the pickle can also increase the flavor, so that the dish is more fragrant and delicious.