PURPOSE:
This
review article provides an overview of the
trends of
research papers on the
health benefits of kimchi and kimchi
lactic acid bacteria published from 1995 to 2017.
METHODS:
All
publications from 1995 to 2017 regarding kimchi and kimchi
lactic acid bacteria were collected, reviewed, and classified. This
review article covers the
publications of the
health benefits of kimchi and kimchi
lactic acid bacteria on experimental, clinical trials, and
epidemiology studies.
RESULTS:
The number of
publications on kimchi over the period were 590 385
publications in Korean and 205
publications in English. The number of
publications on the
health benefits of kimchi and kimchi
lactic acid bacteria were 95 in Korean and 54 in English. The number of
publications on kimchi and kimchi
lactic acid bacteria were 84 and 38, respectively, in the
experimental models. Ten
research papers on kimchi in clinical trials and 7
publications in
epidemiology were found. Kimchi or kimchi
lactic acid bacteria had protective effects against
oxidative stress, mutagenicity,
toxicity,
cancer,
dyslipidemia,
hypertension,
immunity, and
inflammation in
in vitro, cellular, and in vivo
animal models. Moreover, kimchi had effects on the
serum lipids,
intestinal microbiota,
iron status,
obesity, and metabolic
parameters in
human clinical trials. In
epidemiology, kimchi had effects on
hypertension,
asthma,
atopic dermatitis,
rhinitis,
cholesterol levels, and
free radicals.
CONCLUSION:
This
review focused on the
publications regarding the
health benefits of kimchi and kimchi
lactic acid bacteria, suggesting the
future directions of studies about kimchi and kimchi
lactic acid bacteria by producing a database for an evaluation of the
health benefits of kimchi.