Yeungnam University Professor Park, Yong-ha\'s team, \'world first\' kimchi microorganism clinical tests
Opened new vista in treating Atopy such as development of new medicines and functional foods
Also contribute in globalization of Korean food
[April 8, 2010]

 With the recent stark increase of patients with atopy, it was found that 1.13 million in the nation received hospital treatment in 2008. In addition, it was found that as of 2008, 52.6% of patients in Korea with atopic skin disease were younger than teenagers, and that 71.5% were of patients under 20 years old, and thus showing that it was more severe in children and teens.

 Under such circumstances, for the first time in the world a domestic research team proved that kimchi, the traditional and best known food of Korea, was effective for treating atopy, and thus the world is once again being charmed with kimchi as a the \'health food\' that will keep people healthy.

 
 The Yeungnam University \'Customized Medical Research Team\' (director Park, Yong-ha), for the first time in the world discovered through clinical experiments that lactic acid bacteria from kimchi had microorganisms with outstanding treating effects for children with skin atopy disease. Results of these experiments were published in the April issue of the ≪Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology≫ of the US.

 Yeungnam University Professor Park, Yong-ha (School of Biotechnology, photo) and Chungbuk National University Professor Han, Yoon-soo (School of medicine), and ProBionic (CEO Hong, Yoon-mi) composed a joint industry-academic research team and conducted research on the treatment effects of kimchi microorganisms for atopy disease with funding from the Ministry of Health & Welfare, MEST and the Small and Medium Business Administration, thus finding a microorganism called Lactobacillus sakei probio 65, which is a type of lactic acid bacteria in kimchi.

 In order to prove the treatment effects of the microorganisms on skin atopy disease, the research team conducted clinical tests. After injecting children between the ages of 2 to 10 having atopy disease with the microorganisms for 3 months and checking the changes of elements related to immunity adjustment within the blood, certain chemokines (CCL17, CCL27) in the serum were reduced noticeably, and the their condition improved up to 238% over compared to the placebo group, and thus it was scientifically proven in detail. Results of the research has already acquired domestic patents, and it is patent pending currently in the US, Europe and China.

L. sakei probio65 strain seen using an electronic microscope (magnified 5,000 times) / Clinical test results of atopy patients (before and after)

Published in US journal specializing on atopy.
Domestic patent acquired, patent pending in the US, Europe and China

 These research results proved for the first time that it is possible to develop alternatives to existing atopy medicines using kimchi lactic acid bacteria, which is a natural immune adjustor without any side effects, and is expected to open new opportunities for development of treatments for atopy disease.

 Currently the most common treatments for atopy disease are steroids, antihistamines, and antibiotics. However, there is a dire need for development of new treatment methods because it is not only impossible to recover completely, but also causes many side effects.

 Furthermore, because most atopy treatment research using plant-based lactic acid bacteria conducted only animal testing, or because it could not scientifically suggest clear effect mechanisms through clinical experiments, it has been unable to be developed into new medicines or functional food ingredients.

 Under such circumstances, Professor Park\'s research team became the first in the world to report to the international medical circle of the outstanding effects that traditional kimchi have on treating atopy, and opened the doors to using kimchi lactic acid bacteria as new medicine ingredients and functional foods for treating atopy. In 2000, Professor Park\'s team also became the first in the world to discover the new microorganisms called \'L. kimchi\' from kimchi, and thus heightening the prestige of Korea as the birthplace of kimchi.

 On this, Park, Yong-ha, director of the Yeungnam University Customized Medical Research Team, stated, \"The research results will not only open the possibility of developing new medicines to control atopy, which is an incurable disease of modern people, but will also greatly contribute in the globalization of Korean food.\" He also explained, \"We are planning to commercialize and distribute it to the entire world through a domestic bio company in the first half of this year.\"

 On the other hand, Professor Park\'s research team is planning to introduce the recently developed yogurt drinks and hand out its free samples at the \'2010 Science Day in Commemoration of the Science Month\' at the National Science Museum (Daejeon).