Flavonoid Intake in Relation to Colorectal Cancer Risk and Blood Bacterial DNA

Abstract

Flavonoids have been inversely associated to colorectal cancer (CRC) and are plausible intermediaries for the relation among gut microbiome, intestinal permeability and CRC. We analyzed the relation of flavonoid intake with CRC and blood bacterial DNA. We conducted a case–control study in Italy involving 100 incident CRC cases and 200 controls. A valid and reproducible food–frequency questionnaire was used to assess dietary habits and to estimate six flavonoid subclass intakes. We applied qPCR and 16S rRNA gene profiling to assess blood bacterial DNA. We used multiple logistic regression to derive odds ratios (ORs) of CRC and Mann–Whitney and chi-–square tests to evaluate abundance and prevalence of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) according to flavonoid intakes. Inverse associations with CRC were found for anthocyanidins (OR for the highest versus the lowest tertile = 0.24, 95% confidence interval, CI = 0.11–0.52) and flavanones (OR = 0.18, 95% CI = 0.08–0.42). We found different abundance and prevalence according to anthocyanidin and flavanone intake for OTUs referring to Oligoflexales order, Diplorickettsiaceae family, Staphylococcus, Brevundimonas, Pelomonas and Escherischia–Shigella genera, and Flavobacterium and Legionella species. The study provides evidence to a protective effect of dietary anthocyanidins and flavanones on CRC and suggests an influence of flavonoids on blood bacterial DNA, possibly through intestinal permeability changes.

Plasma Bacterial DNA Load as a Potential Biomarker for the Early Detection of Colorectal Cancer: A Case–Control Study

“…Some micronutrients may have an anti-inflammatory role and ameliorated gut microbiota disorder [ 40 ], and may modulate circulating microbiome. For instance, it has been demonstrated that a higher intake of dietary flavonoids reduces the risk of CRC, and influences the composition of blood bacterial DNA [ 41 ]. Unfortunately, in the present study, no food frequency questionnaire was administered to patients; therefore, it was not possible to correlate flavonoid intake with circulating bacterial DNA.…”

A influência da alimentação na prevenção do câncer colorretal: uma revisão bibliográfica.

“…Em sua meta-análise, Chang 16 obteve como resultado que o consumo de flavonoides, principalmente a quercetina, e a ingestão de flavonas (como apigenina), podem prevenir o risco de câncer de cólon 16 . No estudo de Speciani et al 17 , também se obteve resultados favoráveis do consumo de flavonoides e câncer de cólon. Os resultados foram que a ingestão de antocianidinas e flavonas podem reduzir o risco de CCR 17 .…”

“…No estudo de Speciani et al 17 , também se obteve resultados favoráveis do consumo de flavonoides e câncer de cólon. Os resultados foram que a ingestão de antocianidinas e flavonas podem reduzir o risco de CCR 17 .…”

Association between dietary intake of anthocyanidins and heart failure among American adults: NHANES (2007–2010 and 2017–2018)

“…Anthocyanidins are one of the six major categories of flavonoids, and the anthocyanidins consumed in diet are mainly provided by fruits such as berries (9). Anthocyanidins have powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, making them useful in the prevention of a variety of chronic diseases, such as eye and kidney complications and many cancer types (10)(11)(12)(13). An increasing number of evidences show that anthocyanidins is related to circulatory disease, and have shown significant lipid-lowering effects in many studies (14,15).…”