Table 4.

Total, direct and indirect effects of diet on the CES-D score with the gut microbiota as a mediator in breast cancer participants (n = 55).

Variables	Total Effect (c)			Direct Effect (c’)			Indirect Effect (ab)
Independent Variable and Mediators	β	SE	CI	β	SE	CI	β	SE	CI
Total CHEI score	−0.228	0.102	−0.433, −0.023
via Chao				−0.109	0.098	−0.306, 0.088	−0.119	0.063	−0.249, −0.004
via Shannon				−0.121	0.099	−0.320, 0.079	−0.108	0.061	−0.230, 0.004
via Simpson				−0.139	0.106	−0.352, 0.074	−0.090	0.048	−0.200, −0.008
Calcium	−0.006	0.003	−0.011, −0.0004
via Chao				−0.003	0.002	−0.008, 0.002	−0.003	0.002	−0.006, 0.0001
via Shannon				−0.003	0.003	−0.008, 0.002	−0.002	0.002	−0.006, 0.0001
Phosphorus	−0.006	0.002	−0.011, −0.0007
via Chao				−0.003	0.002	−0.008, 0.001	−0.002	0.002	−0.006, 0.0002
Selenium	−0.086	0.031	−0.149, −0.023
via Shannon				−0.055	0.031	−0.116, 0.007	−0.031	0.017	−0.063, 0.003

Mediation analyses were conducted through linear regression using the PROCESS macro for SPSS adjusting for age, BMI, family monthly income, education level, menopausal status, employment, residence, marital status and SAS score. A bootstrap method using iterations of computed samples (5000) was used to determine the significance of the indirect effects.