Constipation is caused by irregular meals and lifestyle, and chronic constipation can cause colon cancer. There are many studies of animal fermented food such as yogurt for the purpose of constipation prevention, however, there are not many studies that have reported on the association between Japanese traditional vegetable fermented food and bowel movement. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to examine the association between intakes of fermented food and the bowel movement state in young women.
Most of the fermented food which the subjects consumed were animal fermented foods, such as yogurt or cheese, and there was little vegetable fermented food. Particularly, the constipation group had a higher intake ratio of animal fermented food and vegetable fermented food than the non-constipation group (the control group). In addition, the constipation group had less intake frequency of miso soup than the control group. Therefore, these results suggest the possibility that Japanese food including vegetable fermented food and miso soup increases the influence of bowel movement.