Kimchi, a traditional pickled and fermented vegetable dish, has been found effective in curing viral diseases in fowl, including bird flu and Newcastle disease. Recent scientific research has added to evidence of kimchi's medical power. It has long been said that the traditional Korean dish has anti-bacterial power as well as potential to prevent cancer and other lethal diseases. Of late, some medicinal products from kimchi extracts are available in the market. Today, kimchi has become a well-known, wholesome dish the world over.

Kimchi is made of pickled cabbages mixed with red pepper, garlic, ginger, green onions, radishes, salted fish and other spices, which are fermented for preservation. This fermented vegetable mixture, as it turns out, is very good for human bodies. Kimchi has been known to be effective in preventing various viral diseases including enteritis and colonitis, acid poisoning, and geriatric diseases as well as promoting metabolism. The lactic bacteria in kimchi not only enriches its taste but also curbs the activity of harmful bacteria in the intestines. In particular, the cellulose in the vegetables is effective in treating constipation and other gastrointestinal disorders.

Kimchi's medical potential attracted particular attention in 2003 when SARS was sweeping many parts of Asia. While the new contagious disease was on the rapid move in China and many other Southeast Asian countries, Korea remained a clean zone, relatively free from the deadly virus. A small number of Koreans were infected with the SARS virus, but the damage was quite minimal. At that time, many wondered why this was; some concluded that kimchi was the answer. Afterwards, Korea's exports of kimchi soared. The theory, though not proven, was based on kimchi's already-known anti-bacterial effect. As time has passed, its salutary effects have been proven out one by one.

It is quite noteworthy that a Korean cosmetic company has developed the world's first preservative-free cosmetics by using the lactic ferment of kimchi. A local research team, led by Kang Sa-ouk, professor of microbiology at Seoul National University, recently said that a lactic ferment in kimchi showed clear remedial effects for chickens suffering from bird flu, Newcastle and bronchitis. At a poultry farm, the team experimented with three groups of 13 chickens infected with the viruses. One group was provided only with water, while the second one was given a culture fluid. The last group was given a diluted culture fluid of a lactic ferment in kimchi. After one week, all fowl in the first group had died. However, 11 each in the second and third groups were cured of their diseases.

Prof. Kang's research was recently reported by BBC, drawing worldwide attention. Though researchers are still perplexed as to how the ferment cured the fowl, his experiments strongly supported the notion of kimchi's medicinal effects on fowl infected with bird flu virus. Emphasizing that the lactic ferment of kimchi works as a preservative due to its anti-bacterial ability, Kang said that he had applied for a patent and transferred the technology for extracting the kimchi ferment to a cosmetic company for making related products without chemical preservatives. The cosmetic maker COTDE developed a product, named 'Ciracle' containing a culture fluid of a lactic ferment. The firm plans to sell the anti-wrinkle cosmetics from next month and expects to export to an American distributor products worth some 10 billion won annually.

Kimchi has already proven its salutary effects and is now expected to become one of the most widely sampled dishes in the world. With growing evidence of its medicinal benefits, the vegetable dish remains - and will continue to remain - one of Korea's strongest cultural assets.