Credited with everything from curing the common cold to attracting Mr Right, Korea’s quintessential kimchi (spicy pickled cabbage) is now being lauded by scientists as effective against bird flu.
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Researchers at Seoul National University conducted trials in which chickens with avian flu were fed the active lactic acid bacterium abundantly present in kimchi and showed a marked recovery.
Of the 13 infected chickens given the kimchi extract, 11 of them recovered a week later, according to the Korea Times. Reports of the findings have sent kimchi sales soaring all over Asia. Korea produces about 460 thousand tons of kimchi and exports about $78m worth of the pungent delicacy each year.
