Association between dietary intake and the prevalence of tumourigenic bacteria in the gut microbiota of middle-aged Japanese adults

The relative contribution of diet to colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence is higher than that for other cancers. Animal models have revealed that Escherichia coli containing polyketide synthase (pks⁺E. coli) in the gut participates in CRC development. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the relationship between dietary intake and the prevalence of pks⁺E. coli isolated from the microbiota in faecal samples of 223 healthy Japanese individuals. Dietary intake was assessed using a previously validated brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire. The prevalence of pks⁺E. coli was evaluated using faecal samples collected from participants and specific primers that detected pks⁺E. coli. The prevalence of pks⁺E. coli was 26.9%. After adjusting for baseline confounders, the prevalence of pks⁺E. coli was negatively associated with the intake of green tea (odds ratio [OR], 0.59 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.30–0.88] per 100 g/1,000 kcal increment) and manganese (OR, 0.43 [95% CI 0.22–0.85] per 1 mg/1,000 kcal increment) and was positively associated with male sex (OR, 2.27 [95% CI 1.05–4.91]). While futher studies are needed to validate these findings, these results provide insight into potential dietary interventions for the prevention of CRC.