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  • Association between kimchi consumption and obesity based on BMI and abdominal obesity in Korean adults: a cross-sectional analysis of the Health Examinees study

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Association between kimchi consumption and obesity based on BMI and abdominal obesity in Korean adults: a cross-sectional analysis of the Health Examinees study
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  • Published on: 11 March 2024
    This wasn’t about obesity and it didn’t make sense

    A press-released article generated media headlines about kimchi and obesity (Ref 1). Obesity was defined in the study as BMI ≥ 25, in accordance with Korean guidelines (Ref 2). That’s overweight in world health definitions (Ref 3). I’ll proceed using the word obesity, although that’s not what was studied.
    Association does not mean causation although the press release inferred this “kimchi, may lower men’s overall risk of obesity.”
    The healthy person confounder was (unusually) inverse in this study. The highest kimchi intake group was the least healthy in numerous characteristics. At baseline, those who consumed more kimchi were more likely to be obese and more likely to have abdominal obesity.
    The claims had no consistency or rationale.
    1) For total kimchi, it was claimed that, compared to < 1 serving of kimchi a day, 1-2 and 2-3 servings per day were associated with lower obesity in men only.
    No claims were made for men beyond 3 servings a day.
    No claims were made for men and abdominal obesity at any intake of kimchi.
    No claims were made for women for obesity or abdominal obesity at any intake of kimchi.
    This needed to be explained and it wasn’t. The researchers tried to argue that “Lactobacillus brevis and L. plantarum isolated from kimchi had an anti-obesity effect.” Why in men not women? Why at up to 3 servings but not higher? Why for obesity occasionally and not abdominal obesity ever?
    The researchers also tr...

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    Conflict of Interest:
    I write and publish books and content in the field of diet and health.