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Relationship Between the Frequency of Bowel Movements and Fecal Bacteroides in Japanese Women

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Abstract

The intestinal microbiota is involved in many diseases, such as constipation, obesity, and inflammatory bowel disease. To determine the associations between the gut microbiome and the frequency of bowel movements, we performed cross-sectional correlation analysis at the baseline and longitudinal correlation analysis after the intervention. Forty-three women were enrolled in this study. All participants ingested soymilk-okara powder (15 g) daily for 12 weeks. They recorded the ingested okara powder amounts and their frequency of bowel movements during the entire 12 weeks of the intervention. The fecal microbiota percentages were measured at baseline and after 12 weeks of intervention. Two women who did not completely record the frequency of bowel movements were excluded. In the cross-sectional correlation analysis at the baseline, there was a significant positive correlation between the relative abundance of the Bacteroides genus in the feces and the frequency of bowel movements per week (R = 0.429, p = 0.005) and a significant negative correlation between the relative abundance of Clostridium cluster XI in the feces and the frequency of bowel movements per week (R = −0.315, p = 0.045). Moreover, in the longitudinal correlation analysis, the difference in the relative abundance of Bacteroides genus in feces between the baseline and after the intervention significantly correlated with the changes in the frequency of bowel movements per week (R = 0.492, p = 0.001). Therefore, it was suggested that there was a relationship between the gut relative abundance of the Bacteroides genus and the frequency of bowel movements.

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Data Availability

No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

Abbreviations

BDHQ :

brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire

95% CI:

95% confidence interval

Δ:

difference

SCFAs :

short-chain fatty acids

T-RFLP :

terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism.

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Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank the Mukogawa Women’s University employees who participated in this study. Additionally, we thank Izumoto Kozue and Kato Asami, who conducted data entry for the questionnaire data. Moreover, we would like to thank Editage for English language editing.

Funding

This work was supported by a research grant from the Kikkoman Food Products Company (to K.T. and A.M).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Food Science and Nutrition, Mukogawa Women’s University, 6-46, Ikebiraki-cho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, 663-8558, Japan

    Akihiro Maeta & Kyoko Takahashi

  2. Product Development Division, Kikkoman Food Products Company, 250, Noda, Noda, Chiba, 278-0037, Japan

    Masahiro Katsukawa & Yaeko Hayase

Authors
  1. Akihiro Maeta
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  2. Masahiro Katsukawa
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  3. Yaeko Hayase
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  4. Kyoko Takahashi
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Contributions

Conceptualization: A.M.; Methodology: A.M., M.K., Y.H., and K.T.; Validation: A.M., M.K., Y.H., and K.T.; Formal analysis: A.M.; Investigation: A.M. and K.T.; Resources: K.M., Y.H., and K.T.; Data curation: A.M. and K.T.; Writing - original draft preparation: A.M.; Writing - review and editing: K.M., Y.H., and K.T.; Visualization: A.M.; Supervision: Y.H. and K.T.; Project administration: A.M. and K.M.; Funding acquisition: K.M., Y.H., and K.T. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Akihiro Maeta or Kyoko Takahashi.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval

The study protocols were approved by the Ethics Committee of Mukogawa Women’s University (permit numbers 20–89 and 21–133).

Consent to Participate

The purpose and protocol of this study were explained to all participants, and written informed consent was obtained.

Consent for Publication

All authors and participants consent to publish this manuscript.

Competing Interests

K.T. and A.M. received a research grant from the Kikkoman Food Products Company. M.K. and Y.H. are employees of the Kikkoman Food Products Company.

Clinical Trial Number

We have not obtained a Clinical Trial Number because the subjects of this study were healthy Japanese people and soymilk-okara powder is a food not a medicine.

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Maeta, A., Katsukawa, M., Hayase, Y. et al. Relationship Between the Frequency of Bowel Movements and Fecal Bacteroides in Japanese Women. Plant Foods Hum Nutr (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-024-01168-9

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