Association between Dietary Intake of Live Microbes and Chronic Constipation in Adults

Chronic constipation (CC) is a common gut health problem, and the role of live dietary microbes in CC is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between dietary live microbes consumption and CC. Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data (2005–2010), 11,170 adults who completed the 24-h face-to-face dietary recall and bowel health questionnaire were identified. CC was defined by the Bristol Stool Form Scale. Dietary live microbes intake was classified as low, medium, and high. Additionally, combined medium and high categories (MedHi) were analyzed. Multivariate regression models were constructed to assess the association between dietary intake of live microbes and CC. In the weighted sample, the age-adjusted CC prevalence was 7.06% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.45, 7.67). In multivariate regression models, after controlling for potential confounders race/ethnicity, sex, body mass index, education, poverty, depression, caffeine intake, and alcohol intake, a significant inverse association between dietary live microbes consumption and CC was observed (odds ratio [OR]: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.61, 0.97, P-trend = 0.061). Our findings suggest that a high dietary live microbes consumption may be associated with lower odds of CC. However, further prospective studies are essential to confirm its effectiveness in reducing CC occurrence.