Supposedly, there is a rise in stomach and throat cancer that is sometimes linked to kimchi here. Then again, it could be the fact that it's all fermented in hot pepper, eaten at nearly every meal. It could also be that alcoholism doesn't exist here even though the people do in fact drink a lot and smoke heavily.

I'm thinking that this part of the article is key:

"...nutrients that enable fresh vegetables to prevent cancer may degrade in the acidic solution."

The people getting the cancer often eat the fermented vegetables in lieu of fresh for long periods of time when they are not available.

I was drafted back in 1972, went to Korea and I became fond of Kimchi both for taste and health. As you get older digestion becomes ever important. At 59 I'm in pretty good health. No phamaceutical drugs and still under 200 lbs at 6 ft. tall.

I just feel I need to increase my digestion quality and have read that the U.S. is one of the few societies in the world that doesn't eat a fermented food on a consistent basis. I'm not in favor of milk based products like yogart, as I live in So. Florida, sub tropics and I believe that milk is to fattening for this climate. I don't think people living in the tropics need the level of body fat that people in the colder climates need, especially animal fats.

What I'm looking for is a healthy recipe for fermenting vegetables, that actually tastes good. I could go to Kimchi, but a little spicy hot for my general taste.

I believe more in the Hulda Clark concept that cancer is caused by enviromental contaminants, various parasitic infestations, i.e. fungi, bacterias, intestinal flukes, etc. and of course poor neutrition.

Any good recipes out there???

Somebody with free time can check out the full article year and critique it. The authors are Japanese and Korean cancer researchers. Go toward the bottom and click PDF or HTML.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1349-7006.2009.01374.x/abstract;jsessionid=6CF2FB8C981E455000FF4966C404A6CD.d03t03

Actually, I just realized, it's not original research. It's what they call "meta research", meaning they looked at research to date and came up with their own conclusions. This is the same thing done by Frank Hu, who came to conclude that saturated fat is not associated with CVD.

In any case, it is a bit alarming since it is not based on some isolated research but on the totality of accumulated research to date. So someone with free energy and time can take a look and critique it. Also, it would be nice to see if the same conclusion might apply to other Paleo-friendly fermented foods: Sauerkraut; Kombucha; Kefir; yogurt; and what do you call that fermented beet stuff?

Here's some speculation on mechanisms from the paper:

Salt is not a directly acting carcinogen, but consumption of salt and salt-preserved foods may cause atrophic gastritis by directly damaging the gastric mucosa, which could induce DNA synthesis and cell proliferation that contributes to stomach carcinogenesis(67) or enhance the penetration of carcinogens.(68) In addition, it has been reported that a high-salt diet enhances H. pylori colonization in the stomach.(69)Helicobacter pylori infection may increase the endogenous synthesis of nitrate in the stomach and decrease gastric vitamin C concentrations,(70) thereby increasing endogenous N-nitroso compound formation.(16) For these reasons, a high intake of salt and salt-preserved foods has been considered a probable cause of GC in many studies.(16,36,40,51,54,71,72) The loss of antioxidants in fresh vegetables as a consequence of processing and storage under acid and oxygen might partially explain the harmful effects of consumption of pickled vegetables on GC risk.(15,20,21) Another possible explanation is that pickled vegetables are a possible food source of nitroso compounds, thereby contributing to gastric carcinogenesis.(22,23)>

It is possible to ferment vegies without salt.

This is good recipe - works for me! The book is good too...

http://www.wildfermentation.com/resources.php?page=sauerkraut