The relationship between diet and rat fecal bacterial enzymes implicated in colon cancer
Goldin, B.R.; Gorbach, S.L.
Journal of the National Cancer Institute 57(2): 371-375
1976
ISSN/ISBN: 0027-8874 PMID: 1003518 Document Number: 104540
The effect of diet on the activities of 4 enzymes in the intestinal flora of male F344 rats was studied. Rats initially fed on a diet with high vegetable and grain content were transferred to a diet consisting predominantly of beef. While eating the meat diet, the rats had significantly higher nitroreductase, azoreductase and beta -glucuronidase activities in their faecal flora than when the diet contained grain, but beta -glucosidase activity was significantly lower when the diet contained meat, probably reflecting the lack of beta -glycosidic linkage in that diet. The findings suggest that a high-beef diet, similar in composition to that eaten by human populations with a relatively high risk of colon cancer, is associated with increases in specific enzymes in the colon microflora; those enzymes have been implicated in the conversion of procarcinogens into carcinogens.