Researchers have found out that typical Korean menu consisting of nothing more than rice, soybean paste stew, kimchi and some namul (seasoned vegetables) is comparable, in terms of nutrition and promoting healthy life, to the typical Mediterranean or Japan’s Okinawa menu which include a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. The secret of this was the Vitamin B-12 contained in fermented food such as soybean paste and kimchi.

“We confirmed that soybean paste, soybean sauce, fermented soybean soup, kimchi and seaweed also contain much Vitamin B-12 which, until recently, was thought to be only found in animal food,” said Professor Sang-chul Park at Seoul National University College of Medicine. He also said, “This is the reason why old people in Korea do not suffer from Vitamin B-12 deficiency even though they seldom eat meat.” Professor Park’s research team published this result on the recent issue of Korean Journal of Nutrition last July.

It is known that as people get older it becomes hard to absorb Vitamin B-12 into the body. However, when Vitamin B-12 is deficient the risk of cardiovascular disease and stomach cancer increase, as well as causing cognition, eyesight and hearing problems. “An American professor asked me three years ago ‘How come Koreans above one hundred years old who hardly eat meats do not suffer from Vitamin B-12 deficiency when 30% of the Westerners of the same ages do?’ I now know the answer,” said Professor Park.

That question started Professor Park’s experiment and he recently found out that there is much Vitamin B-12 in soybean paste, soybean sauce, fermented soybean soup, kimchi and seaweed. Considering there is no Vitamin B-12 in bean, tofu, or cabbage, Professor Park presumed that Vitamin B-12 in soybean paste, fermented soybean soup and kimchi is formed through the fermentation.

Professor Park also argued that ‘namul ‘, seasoned vegetable after parboiling, is more nutritious than fresh fruit or vegetable because parboiling gets rid of most of the harmful ingredients such as carcinogen. Nowadays farmers commonly use nitrogenous manure which causes vegetables to accumulate nitrate, and when nitrate enters the body it becomes carcinogen called ‘nitrosoamine’. Professor Park testified that when vegetable is parboiled for one minute, more than half of the nitrate is eliminated.

Professor Park will give a lecture on the excellence of Korean typical food menu at the 15th International Congress of Dietetics in Yokohama, Japan on September 11.

September 4, 2008

SNU PR Office