Bolus rheology of texture adjusted food—Effect of age
Journal article, 2023

Swallowing disorders, or dysphagia, affect a large part of the population due to factors such as degenerative diseases, medication side effects or simply age-related impairment of physiological oropharyngeal function. The management of dysphagia is mainly handles through texture-modified foods of progressively softer, smoother, moister textures, depending on the severity of the disorder. Rheological and physiological-related properties of boluses were determined for a group of five older persons (average age, 74) for a set of texture-modified foods: bread, cheese and tomato and the combination into a sandwich. The softest class was gel food, after which came a smooth timbale; both were compared to boluses of regular food. The subjects chewed until ready to swallow, at which point the bolus was expectorated and measured regarding saliva content, linear viscoelasticity and shear viscosity. The results were compared to those of a previously studied younger group (average age, 38). The general physiological status of the subjects was determined by hand and tongue strength, diadochokinesis and one-legged standing and showed that all subjects were as healthy and fit as the younger group. Age-related properties such as one-legged standing with closed eyes and salivary flow plus bolus saliva content were lower for the older group, but the average chews-until-swallow was surprisingly also lower. Consequently, bolus modulus and viscosity were higher than for the younger group. Overall, the intended texture modification was reflected in bolus rheological and physiological-related properties. Bolus modulus, viscosity, saliva content and chews-until-swallowed all decreased from regular food to timbale food to gel food.

rheology

texture-modification

bolus

swallowing

dysphagia

Author

Mats Stading

Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Engineering Materials

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Ana Miljkovic

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Johanna Andersson

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Koichiro Matsuo

Tokyo Medical and Dental University

Journal of Texture Studies

0022-4901 (ISSN) 17454603 (eISSN)

Vol. 54 6 824-834

Talking with the Food in the Mouth

Formas (2016-00253), 2016-01-01 -- 2020-12-31.

Subject Categories

Food Science

Food Engineering

Medical Image Processing

DOI

10.1111/jtxs.12789

PubMed

37463674

More information

Latest update

3/7/2024 9