Article

Dietary intake of processed meats with fermented foods: effects on carcinoembryonic antigen, hematological parameters, and gut microbiota of adult and elderly mouse models

Seung Yun Lee1,, Da Young Lee2,, Jae Hyeon Kim2, Jae Won Jeong2, Seung Hyeon Yun2, Juhyun Lee2, Ermie Mariano Jr.2, Sun Jin Hur2,*
Author Information & Copyright
1Division of Animal Science, Institute of Agriculture & Life Science, Gyeongsang National University , Jinju 52828, Korea.
2Department of Animal Science and Technology, Chung-Ang University, Anseong 17546, Korea.

† These authors contributed equally to this work.

*Corresponding Author: Sun Jin Hur. E-mail: hursj@cau.ac.kr.

© Copyright 2024 Korean Society for Food Science of Animal Resources. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Jun 12, 2024 ; Revised: Jul 23, 2024 ; Accepted: Jul 23, 2024

Published Online: Jul 30, 2024

Abstract

This study analyzed the effects of the dietary intake of processed meat products (ham, sausage, and bacon) with fermented foods (kimchi, soybean paste and red pepper paste) on colorectal cancer (CRC) risk, hematological parameters, and gut microbiota of adult and elderly Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice. Kimchi and red pepper paste tend to reduce the concentrations of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in mice that consumed some processed meats. Although the CEA concentrations in the processed meats and feces of mice fed with processed meats and fermented foods were detected for all samples, the levels were normal and did not increase the risk of CRC. Alistipes, Bacteroides, and Muribaculaceae were the most predominant gut microbiota in mice feces from all analyzed samples. Kimchi, soybean paste, and red pepper paste tended to change the proportions of bacteria associated with gut health, but the results were inconclusive because this tendency was inconsistent. In conclusion, this study found that fermented foods did not significantly affect the indicators of CRC risk associated with the dietary intake of processed meat, regardless of mouse age.

Keywords: Processed meat; Fermented food; Colorectal cancer risk; Gut microbiota; Ages