A method to adapt conventional dishes for dysphagic people was developed. Acceptability of adapted dishes was evaluated by cerebral palsy dysphagic people. Sensory analysis was fundamental in the selection of texturizing agents. Instrumental and sensory texture analyses were useful to study the thermostability. Mixtures of xanthan-based additives led to suitable and stable dishes.
Twenty-four safe dishes for cerebral palsy dysphagic patients and four commercial dysphagia-oriented food products for dysphagia were studied in order to determine their textural characteristics. Apparent viscosity measured at 25, 50, and 100 s −1 and extrusion force analyzed at 1, 2, 5, and 10 mm/s were evaluated. Using clustering techniques, samples were divided into three categories. Apparent viscosity at 50 s −1 and extrusion force at 5 and 10 mm/s could be enough to characterize the safe dishes for dysphagic patients.
Dishes whose texture has been modified for dysphagia undergo changes in other sensory characteristics as well. Therefore, it is necessary to identify these characteristics in adapted dishes and their relationship to hedonic acceptance. In the present work, the sensory characteristics of five dishes adapted to dysphagia associated with cerebral palsy were investigated using the check-all-that-apply method. A hedonic evaluation with a panel of non-dysphagic judges was performed to relate the degree of acceptance with the sensory characteristics of the adapted dishes. The identification of the original non-adapted dish as well as the relationship between the hedonic evaluation by non-dysphagic judges and dysphagic judges were explored. The main attributes of the dishes adapted to dysphagia were “homogeneity” and “easy-to-swallow”. Attributes that increased the hedonic evaluation were “flavorful”, “flavor of the original dish”, “soft texture”, “easy-to-swallow”, and “odor of the original dish”. The attributes that decreased the hedonic evaluation were “thick mash” and “bland”. The fish dish was the only one correctly identified more than 62.5% of the time. The adapted dishes received scores above 4.7 out of 9.0 in the hedonic evaluation. The most accepted dishes were the chicken stew and the chickpea stew. Except for the pasta dish, the test yielded similar results to those obtained with dysphagic judges. The texture-modified dishes were correctly characterized and accepted. This study shows that all the sensory characteristics of the adapted dishes are crucial for acceptance and identification.
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