## 3 Results and Discussion
### Free Amino Acid Contents of Commercial Kimchi Manufactured in Korea, China, and the United States
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Korea** & **China** & **United States** \\ \hline Aspartic acid & \(332.9\pm 74.3\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(114.5\pm 76.6\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) & \(120.5\pm 74.8\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Glutamic acid & \(1777\pm 342\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(308\pm 376\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) & \(357\pm 176\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Asparagine & \(552.9\pm 80.1\,\mathrm{{}^{NS}}\) & \(563.2\pm 188.3\) & \(488.8\pm 149.9\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Serine & \(394.2\pm 55.0\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(168.0\pm 74.6\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) & \(135.6\pm 106.2\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Glutamine & \(2054\pm 180\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(1494\pm 322\,\mathrm{{}^{ab}}\) & \(1399\pm 774\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Histidine & \(215.1\pm 159.0\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) & \(154.3\pm 86.5\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) & \(464.4\pm 143.9\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) \\ Glycine & \(280.4\pm 117.2\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(217.3\pm 84.2\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(123.4\pm 46.6\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Threonine & \(281.5\pm 35.6\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(186.7\pm 92.0\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) & \(190.7\pm 49.0\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Citrulline & \(55.0\pm 16.2\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(46.0\pm 16.2\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(15.6\pm 9.9\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Arginine & \(454.0\pm 325.0\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(16.4\pm 9.3\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) & \(150.0\pm 197.1\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Alanine & \(1003.7\pm 141.8\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(1042.0\pm 520.0\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(648.5\pm 243.0\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Taurine & \(26.5\pm 7.7\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(32.5\pm 15.7\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(2.8\pm 4.7\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ GABA & \(433.1\pm 114.7\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) & \(1406.0\pm 1014.0\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(436.5\pm 69.3\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Tyrosine & \(103.2\pm 41.2\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(29.4\pm 12.0\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) & \(36.1\pm 45.5\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Valine & \(334.0\pm 27.2\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(358.9\pm 115.8\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(249.5\pm 49.6\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Methionine & \(88.5\pm 10.6\,\mathrm{{}^{NS}}\) & \(100.0\pm 44.1\) & \(71.2\pm 25.3\) \\ Typtophan & \(43.9\pm 7.2\,\mathrm{{}^{NS}}\) & \(41.0\pm 53.8\) & \(59.4\pm 10.0\) \\ Phenylalanine & \(196.8\pm 13.3\,\mathrm{{}^{NS}}\) & \(242.3\pm 97.3\) & \(186.4\pm 46.6\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Isoleucine & \(223.8\pm 15.6\,\mathrm{{}^{ab}}\) & \(252.2\pm 92.0\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(164.2\pm 36.8\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Ornithine & \(98.6\pm 119.1\,\mathrm{{}^{NS}}\) & \(26.9\pm 443.3\) & \(29.4\pm 32.6\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Leucine & \(314.1\pm 14.6\,\mathrm{{}^{NS}}\) & \(403.5\pm 157.5\) & \(301.0\pm 79.9\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Lysine & \(277.3\pm 28.7\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(108.5\pm 82.1\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) & \(134.2\pm 60.0\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ Proline & \(322.7\pm 56.4\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) & \(520.1\pm 92.3\,\mathrm{{}^{a}}\) & \(402.4\pm 98.4\,\mathrm{{}^{b}}\) \\ HICA & \(30.5\pm 11.01\,\mathrm{{}^{NS}}\) & \(27.0\pm 14.91\) & \(27.1\pm 20.7\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Data are expressed as the mean \(\pm\) SD. Lowercase letters indicate significant differences among groups (\(p<0.05\)). \({}^{\mathrm{NS}}\); Not significant differences among groups.  
\end{table} 
Table 5: Free amino acid contents of commercial kimchi manufactured in Korea, China, and the United States (mg/kg).