No evidence kimchi can lower chance of death
... possible correlation between a diet of fermented foods and geographical differences in low COVID-19 mortality needs further investigation.
Could diet be the key to thwarting COVID-19? So claims a July Facebook post touting the Korean staple dish kimchi as a potential viral deterrent.
The post links to a San Antonio Current article that cites a May review written by Dr. Jean Bousquet, honorary professor of Pulmonary Medicine at Montpellier University in France, which was published in the journal Clinical and Translation Allergy. The article asserts that Bousquet’s theory suggests “a link between low COVID-19 fatalities and national dietary differences, specifically fermented cabbage.”
“High in antioxidants, fermented cabbage can boost immunity and help decrease levels of ACE2, an enzyme in the cell membrane mostly found in the lungs that is used by COVID-19 as an entry point into the body,” writer Nina Rangel states.
The Facebook post urges readers, if interested, to test the theory themselves by making kimchi at home or buying it pre-made from advertised stores.
Some Facebook users expressed misgivings in the comment section. One questioned if eating kimchi was so beneficial “why did it spread like wildfire in South Korea lol.”
“Kimchi eating Korean husband still got COVID and the fridge stinks,” another commented.
In a comment to USA TODAY via Facebook Messenger, the San Antonio Current stated that while it did not consult any medical experts, “local chefs and purveyors of some of the featured products” were consulted before publication.
“Though they are not medical experts, all provided valuable information on the generally positive effects of a fermented food-heavy diet,” it said.
Can kimchi help against COVID-19?
While there is some data to suggest probiotics may be beneficial against COVID-19, there are no published clinical studies examining the effect of kimchi.
Bousquet, as mentioned by the San Antonio Current, theorizes that the lower COVID-19 mortality exhibited by European countries could be because of a diet consisting of foods inhibiting the molecular entry point for COVID-19, angiotensin-converting enzyme, or ACE2.
“Foods with potent antioxidant or anti ACE activity – like uncooked or fermented cabbage – are largely consumed in low-death rate European countries, Korea and Taiwan, and might be considered in the low prevalence of deaths,” Bousquet writes.
In countries like Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Turkey, while not comparable to other European countries in terms of health systems or death reporting, fermented foods may also impact the observed low death rates, he says.
“This might also be associated with diet since cabbage (Romania) and fermented milk (Bulgaria and Greece) are common foods,” he continues. “Turkey, another apparently low-death rate country, also consumes a lot of cabbage and fermented milk products.”
Bousquet does not bring in his own data or statistical analysis to validate these assertions, but rather uses existing COVID-19 mortality data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource and other regional sources as a basis for his observations.
Bousquet himself notes a low fatality rate depends on many other factors outside of eating fermented foods such as quarantine duration, health care accessibility, testing, pandemic preparedness and public hygiene. In a July interview with VICE, he stated that his findings proved “the correlation between high consumption of fermented vegetables and the low COVID-19 fatality rates, not ‘the-cause-and-effect’ between them.”
Our ruling: Missing context
Fermented foods, such as kimchi, may have health benefits likely derived from the probiotics they contain. However, there are no published clinical studies establishing kimchi’s ability to prevent COVID-19. Dr. Jean Bousquet’s theory of a possible correlation between a diet of fermented foods and geographical differences in low COVID-19 mortality needs further investigation. Right now there is not enough context to make such a claim.
Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.