Recruiting

Kimchi vs. Cabbage

Sponsor:

UCLA

Code:

NCT07435831

Conditions

Healthy Adult Participants

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 19 - 70

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

60 grams per day of intervention food

60 grams per day of intervention food

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this study is to learn about the effects of eating kimchi on the gut health of healthy adults in the USA. The investigators will be researching the changes in the gut microbiome, biomarkers of gut health and cardiometabolic health after consuming fermented and unfermented cabbage.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does eating kimchi (fermented cabbage) result in enrichment of lactic acid bacteria in the stools of participants? Does eating kimchi result in metabolic changes in the gut microbiome, biomarkers of gut and cardiometabolic health of participants? Researchers will compare a group of participants eating fermented cabbage (kimchi) daily to a group of participants eating non-fermented cabbage daily.

Participants will:

Eat kimchi or cabbage daily for 3 weeks. Visit the study site for brief visits up to 5 times. Have blood drawn and provide a fecal sample 2 times - at beginning and end of the 3 week study.

Keep occasional records of food intake and questionnaires about any gastrointestinal symptoms that participants may have.

Conditions

Healthy Adult Participants

Study ID

NCT07435831

Start date

Mar 30, 2026

Status verified date

Apr, 2026

Completion date

Dec, 2029

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jan 30, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 19 - 70

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • BMI of 25-30 kg/m2
  • No or occasional consumption of kimchi (3 or fewer times per week)
  • Willing to eat study food every day for 3 weeks
  • Willing to participate in study protocols

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Allergy to cabbage and /or cruciferous family vegetables
  • Allergy to kimchi ingredients such as shellfish and fish sauce
  • Daily consumption of kimchi
  • Diagnosed digestive issues such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or gastrointestinal inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or conditions such as Crohn's disease
  • Previous bowel surgery that disrupts the digestive flow, motility or gastric emptying process
  • Antibiotics used in the 2 months prior to enrollment
  • Unwillingness to discontinue probiotics during study and washout period
  • Active diagnosis and/or treatment for cancer

Study Design

Enrollment

60 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Prevention

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Kimchi

active comparator: Cabbage

Interventions

60 grams per day of intervention food

Non-fermented cabbage

60 grams per day of intervention food

Kimchi fermented cabbage

Primary outcome measure

  • Change from baseline in fecal Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) [ Time Frame: Baseline and week 3 ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Locations

Ragle Human Nutrition Center

Recruiting

Davis, California, United States, 95616

Contacts

Francene Steinberg, PhD

530-752-0120fmsteinberg@ucdavis.edu

UC Davis Ragle Human Nutrition Research Center

Recruiting

Davis, California, United States, 95616

Contacts

Francene Steinberg, PhD

530-752-0160fmsteinberg@ucdavis.edu

Jody Randolph

5307527620jmrandolph@ucdavis.edu

More Information

Sponsor

University of California, Davis

Last update posted

Apr 2, 2026

Last verified

Apr, 2026

Keywords

  • Healthy adult
  • GI health
  • Fermented food

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of California, Davis on 2026-04-02.