**6. Conclusions**

*H. pylori* infection is a major public health problem that affects more than half of the world population leading to a range of GI and extra-gastric problems. This study is the first in Bahrain and one of few in the region to investigate the relationship between diet and *H. pylori* infection. *H. pylori* infection was significantly higher among participants with lower educational levels (high school degree or below) compared to those with higher educational levels (university degree). Intake of honey, green tea, and coffee was found to be protective against *H. pylori* infection. In addition, vitamin D deficiency was a risk factor for *H. pylori* infection. Including diet, in prevention measures and in support of treatment options of *H. pylori* infection will provide an acceptable convenient approach to control *H. pylori* with reasonable cost, high availability, and lesser side effects compared to medications.

**Supplementary Materials:** The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/article/ 10.3390/nu14194215/s1, Table S1: Frequencies and distribution of H. pylori diagnostic methods used; Table S2: Percent distribution of frequency of consumption of food and beverage items by the study participants.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, F.H., T.A.A. and S.P.; methodology, F.H., T.A.A. and S.P.; software, F.H.; validation, F.H.; formal analysis, F.H. and S.P.; investigation, F.H., N.A. and O.S.; Methodology, F.H., T.A.A., S.P., N.A., C.G., C.F. and M.R.; data curation, F.H.; Project administration, F.H. and T.A.A.; writing—original draft preparation, F.H.; writing—review and editing, F.H., T.A.A., A.A.S., S.P., C.G., C.F. and M.R.; visualization, F.H.; All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Research and Ethics Committee at King Hamad University Hospital in the Kingdom of Bahrain (protocol code 20-386, date of approval 15 December 2020).

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

**Data Availability Statement:** Data supporting reported results is not publicly archived, if required, it can be provided by the principal investigator.

**Acknowledgments:** We would like to thank Afnan Freije, Salwa Al-Thawadi for their administrative support, and Dalal Al Rumaihi, Abdulrahman Muhoorfi, Jawaher Alsaqer, Heba Abdallaa and Sharifa Ahmed for their contribution in facilitating and supporting data collection.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
