Influence of thickening agents on rheological properties and sensory attributes of dysphagic diet

Abstract

Dysphagia is the difficulty during the progression of the bolus from the mouth to the stomach. Modifying the texture of the food is a fundamental factor for safe swallowing in patients with dysphagia since inadequate consistency can result in complications. To personalize and develop diets for dysphagia, understanding, and controlling the rheological and sensory properties of thickeners is useful. This review examines the different types of thickeners used to modify the texture of foods, as well as their influence on rheological properties and sensory attributes to efficiently manage the diet in dysphagia. The study discusses characteristics such as: hardness, viscosity, viscoelasticity, as well as sensory attributes related to rheology. The thickeners xanthan gum, methylcellulose, carboxymethylcellulose, guar gum, linseed, and chia, carboxymethylated curdlan, and konjac glucomannan were reviewed in this work. Sensory evaluations of different foods have already been carried out on some products such as: meats, carrots, soups, pates, and timbales with their modified textures. The sensory attributes measured among hydrocolloids are strongly correlated with rheological parameters. Dysphagic diets should have less hardness and adherence, but with adequate cohesiveness to facilitate chewing, swallowing to protect from aspiration and reduction of residues in the oropharynx. The use of a single type of thickener may not be ideal, their mixtures and synergistic effect can improve the viscous and elastic characteristics of foods, to obtain safe food to swallow and to improve the sensory interest of dysphagic patients. Personalized recommendations with follow‐up on swallowing approaches, respecting patient's individuality, explaining thickening agents' differences would be pertinent.

Instrumental and sensory techniques to characterize the texture of foods suitable for dysphagic people: A systematic review

“…On the other hand, 340 articles are found when keywords as “thickener,” “water,” and “dysphagia” are considered, and most of them evaluated the effects of thickening agents in water (an “ideal model”). But the behavior of thickeners in water differs by comparison with a complex matrix as TFMs (Schmidt et al., 2021). In these documents, various instrumental and sensory methods were used to characterize the texture of TMFs.…”

Food texture and texture modification for dysphagia management

“…Two nice review articles and one discussion article are also published in this special issue. "The influence of thickening agents on rheological properties and sensory attributes of dysphagic diet" gives a broad view about the use of thickening agents in texture modification (Schmidt, Komeroski, Steemburgo, & de Oliveira, 2021). "Critical review of sensory texture descriptors: From pureed to transitional foods for dysphagia patients" critically examined sensory texture descriptors from pureed to transitional foods for dysphagia patients (Guénard-Lampron, Masson, & Blumenthal, 2021).…”