title: Bacterial Composition, Genotoxicity, and Cytotoxicity of Fecal Samples from Individuals Consuming Omnivorous or Vegetarian Diets.
abstract: This study analyzes the composition of viable fecal bacteria and gut toxicology biomarkers of 29 healthy volunteers, who followed omnivorous, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, or vegan diets. In particular, the research was focused on the prevalence of some representative viable bacteria from the four dominant phyla (Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria) commonly present in human feces, in order to evaluate the relationship between microorganisms selected by the habitual dietary patterns and the potential risk due to fecal water (FW) genotoxicity and cytotoxicity, considered as biomarkers for cancer risk and protective food activity. The relative differences of viable bacteria among dietary groups were generally not statistically significant. However, compared to omnivores, lacto-ovo-vegetarians showed low levels of total anaerobes. Otherwise, vegans showed total anaerobes counts similar to those of omnivores, but with lower number of bifidobacteria and the highest levels of bacteria from theBacteroides-Prevotellagenera. FW genotoxicity of lacto-ovo-vegetarians resulted significantly lower either in relation to that of omnivores and vegans. Lacto-ovo-vegetarians also showed the lowest levels of cytotoxicity, while the highest were found for vegans. These results highlighted that lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet was particularly effective in a favorable modulation of microbial activity, thus contributing to a significant reduction of the genotoxic and cytotoxic risk in the gut.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology, University of Perugia Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Ermanno
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Federici
authors.affiliation: Faculty of BioScience and Technology for Food, Agriculture and Environment, University of Teramo Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Prete
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, University of Parma Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Camilla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lazzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, University of Parma Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicoletta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pellegrini
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Perugia Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moretti
authors.affiliation: Faculty of BioScience and Technology for Food, Agriculture and Environment, University of Teramo Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Corsetti
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology, University of Perugia Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cenci
keywords: cytotoxicity; fecal water; genotoxicity; omnivores; vegetarian diet; viable fecal bacteria