Key takeaways:

• Three or more daily servings of cabbage kimchi was associated with 10% reduced odds of obesity in men.
• Excessive consumption of kimchi could still lead to obesity, researchers warned.

Daily consumption of one to three servings of kimchi was associated with a decreased prevalence of obesity in men, according to a study in BMJ Open.

Hyien Jung, from the department of food and nutrition at Chung Ang University in South Korea, and colleagues explained that kimchi — a dish made of fermented salt and vegetables — has previously shown anti-obesity effects in animal studies because of its lactic acid bacteria.

However, “there are currently a few epidemiology studies investigating the relationship between kimchi consumption and obesity in adults,” they wrote.

In the study, the researchers examined the diets of 115,726 Korean participants aged 40 to 69 years between 2004 and 2013. They were part of a prospective cohort study of environmental and genetic risk factors for common chronic diseases.

They found that in men, consumption of one to two servings (OR = 0.875; 95% CI, 0.808-0.947) and two to three servings (OR = 0.893; 95% CI, 0.817-0.978) of kimchi per day were associated with a lower prevalence of obesity vs. consumption of less than one serving per day.

Men who had three or more daily servings of a specific type of the dish — cabbage kimchi — had 10% reduced odds of obesity (OR = 0.904; 95% CI, 0.832-0.982) and abdominal obesity (OR = 0.903; 95% CI, 0.825-0.989) compared with those who had less than a serving per day.

Jung and colleagues added that there was a lower prevalence of obesity in both men (OR = 0.908; 95% CI, 0.842-0.979) and women (OR = 0.895; 95% CI, 0.855-0.938) who consumed less than the median daily amount of radish kimchi — 25 g for men and 10.7 g for woman. Also, conversely, consumption of radish kimchi exceeding the median daily amount was associated with a lower prevalence of abdominal obesity in men (OR = 0.915; 95% CI, 0.84-0.996) and women (OR = 0.889; 95% CI, 0.842-0.939) vs. nonconsumers.

There were some limitations in the study. For example, its cross-sectional design impacted the researchers’ ability to make a casual inference.

“Thus, a longitudinal study is necessary to better understand the impact of kimchi on obesity,” they wrote. “Furthermore, this finding cannot be generalized due to the study’s focus on Korean participants.”

Jung and colleagues pointed out that increased total kimchi consumption was tied to higher energy, carbohydrate, protein, sodium and fat intake, which “might lead to increased weight.”

“Since all results showed a ‘J-shaped’ association, excessive consumption suggests the potential for an increase in obesity prevalence,” they concluded. “As kimchi is one of the major sources of sodium intake, a moderate amount of kimchi should be recommended for the health benefits of its other components.”