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It might not be the most pleasant smelling of foods, but researchers found that adding kimchi to your daily diet could help control your cholesterol levels.

Korean researchers found that people who ate the fermented cabbage dish experienced lower total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol (or "bad" cholesterol), and fasting blood glucose levels after just one week.

The study, published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, involved 100 healthy young men. Researchers from Pusan National University in Korea found that participants who ate more kimchi on a daily basis experienced significantly greater drops in cholesterol levels than those who ate less.  Those who ate about half a pound of the fermented cabbage daily experienced a steeper drop in cholesterol than those who ate a just a half an ounce every day for a week.

However, researchers found that both groups still reaped benefits from their daily kimchi intake, and participants who had the highest total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels experienced the greatest drops in those readings in both groups.

The traditional Korean dish is packed with vitamins A, B and C.  It also contains a good dose of Lactobacillus, a healthy probiotic bacteria known to help digestion and lower cholesterol.