Taste mapping: navigating the spatiotemporal link between diet and colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer is a major public health problem for its contribution to morbidity and mortality globally, and one of its major inducements is diet. Despite the achievements in the correlation studies about dietary habit and colorectal cancer, as an important component of dietary habit, taste preference has not received enough attention, its quantitative relationship with colorectal cancer has not been fully revealed. Using data from crowdsourced recipes, restaurant points of interest, and regional colorectal cancer mortality rates, this study quantitatively analysed the effects of different tastes on colorectal cancer, established a spatio-temporal link between taste and the disease, elucidating taste’s role in the spatial distribution of colorectal cancer. According to the analysis, Chinese taste preference presents significant spatial heterogeneity, and Chinese cuisines most favour ‘Spicy’ which makes up the top two risk factors of colorectal cancer with ‘Pungent’. Also, the interactions of Salty’ with other tastes might increase colorectal cancer risk, the same goes for ‘Oily’. The proposed quantitative analysis method based on crowdsourcing data can be applied to researches on other diseases, and the study can provide a new method and a new perspective for relevant studies.