First Kimchi, Now Sauerkraut ID'd as Bird-Flu Fighter

Who could've imagined traditional dishes of fermented, chopped cabbage as virus-killing agents? Following on earlier reports that kimchi stops avian flu in its tracks (when fed to chickens, at least!), new research says sauerkraut does the same thing. Seems it's the friendly lactobacilli's doing.

Somehow, the usually kraut-wary Brits have caught on to this research finding, and -- like folks in the USA -- have begun eating a lot more sauerkraut. No reports on whether anyone is feeding it to their chickens, however -- everyone's looking out for number one, it seems.

And in Asia, kimchi has caught on like, uh, fermented spicy cabbage, since early this year, with a huge surge in sales. Again, it appears that despite a paucity of research on the antiviral effects of human-ingested fermented cabbage on human-borne pathogens, people -- not chickens, parrots or budgies -- are eating this stuff.

Still needed: research to determine any possible link between sauerkraut and FSM; some hypothesize a heightened immune response among Pastafarians.