Kimchi could help your body flush out nanoplastics.

If you needed another excuse to pile a little more kimchi onto your plate, science may have just served one up. Researchers at the World Institute of Kimchi have identified a naturally occurring probiotic called Leuconostoc mesenteroides CBA3656 that appears to latch onto harmful polystyrene nanoplastics inside the gut. Instead of allowing these tiny plastic particles to pass through the intestinal wall and potentially enter the bloodstream, the bacteria seem to trap them and help carry them out of the body through normal waste.

The findings were published in Bioresource Technology in 2026 by Dr. Se Hee Lee, Senior Researcher, and Dr. Tae Woong Whon, Director of the Intelligent Fermentation Research Group at the World Institute of Kimchi.

The results are certainly encouraging. In laboratory testing, the probiotic bound to 87 percent of polystyrene nanoplastics under standard conditions and still maintained a 57 percent binding rate in a simulated human intestinal environment. Even more impressively, germ free mice given the probiotic excreted more than twice as many nanoplastics as those that did not receive it. That suggests this strain acts a bit like a tiny biological cleaner, grabbing onto unwanted plastic particles before they have a chance to linger. 

Before you rush to declare kimchi the latest superhero food, there is an important catch. The research has only been carried out in laboratory experiments and animal models, not in human clinical trials. That means eating kimchi cannot yet be recommended as a proven way to remove nanoplastics from your body. The researchers believe that raw, traditionally fermented, unpasteurised kimchi is most likely to contain the live bacteria used in the study, but they also stress that much more research is needed before any health claims can be made. 

For now, the study offers another fascinating glimpse into how beneficial bacteria could help protect your health in ways we never imagined a few years ago. It also highlights the growing interest in finding natural ways to reduce our exposure to the tiny plastic particles that have become almost impossible to avoid. So, if you already enjoy kimchi, keep enjoying it. If you do not, this might be the nudge you needed to give it a try. Just do not expect it to turn you into a human recycling bin overnight.