Eat less red meat

I am convinced that eating red meat is not too good for your health. I’m not ready to turn myself into a vegetarian, but I am definitely cutting back on my red meat consumption. I don’t want to get a heart attack at a young age. I’d also like to avoid colon cancer if I could.

I really enjoy a nice steak, so I’m going to work hard at this. For now, it’s time to eat more fish, chicken, and vegetables. Turkey is OK too.

Do you care about your health? Maybe it’s time to cut back on red meat.

Joseph C Kim

Stomach Cancer and Kimchi 김치

There was a medical research study performed by scientists in Korea. They found that in a certain population of patients, “a high consumption of kimchi, soybean paste, and stews was associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer.”

More specifically:

Stratified according to the NAT2 acetylator status, high consumptions of kimchi, stews, and soybean paste showed higher risks of gastric cancer in slow/intermediate acetylators than in rapid acetylators. The odds ratios for the slow/intermediate acetylators were 4.82 (95% CI: 3.23-7.19) for kimchi, 2.34 (95% CI: 1.64-3.34) for stews, and 1.82 (95% CI: 1.29-2.58) for soybean paste, respectively. The odds ratios for the rapid acetylators were 3.03 (95% CI: 2.00-4.62) for kimchi, 1.60 (95% CI: 1.07-2.38) for stews, and 1.42 (95% CI: 0.95-2.10) for soybean paste.

Nitrate levels are high in kimchi.

The full article can be found here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2766547/

Int J Cancer. 2009 July 1; 125(1): 139–145.
Effects of Dietary…

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Natural herbs and acupuncture

So much of Korean medicine is based around natural herbs and acupuncture. Natural herbs are often mixed into potions and pills for consumption. Although we may not understand the scientific mechanisms of actions behind most of these herbs, they seem to work for certain health ailments. Others may be harmful, but we may not ever know because there are no established drug safety or drug monitoring policies or procedures established to measure and track these herbal remedies.

Acupuncture is a common way to treat pain, headaches, addictions, allergies, and a variety of other health ailments. Medical scientists may not completely understand how acupuncture works, but it seems to be highly effective for certain conditions. Hence, many people in the medical community accept that fact that although we don’t fully understand how acupuncture works, we can see its benefits associated with specific conditions.

Perhaps someday we’ll understand how these herbs work.
Perhaps someday we’ll have a scientific explanation that explains acupuncture.
Perhaps someday a drug monitoring policy will be enforced to track adverse events associated with the use of herbs.

Traditional Korean medicine

Traditional Korean medicine is 한의학. Do you know anyone who takes Korean medicine?

First Aid Prescriptions Using Native Ingredients or “Hyangyak Gugeupbang (향약구급방) was published in 1245. I wasn’t even born then.

Herbalism is the study and practice of using plant material for the purpose of food, medicine, or health. They may be flowers, plants, shrubs, trees, moss, lichen, fern, algae, seaweed or fungus. The plant may be used in its entirety or with specific parts being used.

Acupuncture needles are a medical instrument used to cure ailments by the method of withdrawing blood and stimulating certain points on humans and animals by inserting them on specific pressure points of the body

The Korean government decided to establish a national school of traditional Korean medicine to establish its national treasure on the solid basis after closing of the first modern educational facility (Dong-Je medical school) hundred years ago by Japanese invasion.

In 2008, the School of Korean medicine was established inside Pusan National University with the 50 undergraduate students, and moved into Yangsan medical campus. The new affiliated Korean Medical Hospital and Research Center for Clinical Studies are under construction.

I’m Dr. Joseph Kim and I did not graduate from the National School of Korean Medicine. I went to medical school in America.

World’s Healthiest Foods: Kimchi (Korea) – – Health.com

Did you know that kimchi is considered a health food?

World’s Healthiest Foods: Kimchi (Korea) – – Health.com
http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20410300,00.html
Feb 1, 2008 – Koreans eat so much of this super-spicy condiment (40 pounds of it per person each year) that natives say “kimchi” instead of “cheese” when getting their pictures taken.