Statistical Laws for Food Fragmentation by Human Mastication

Influence of Thickeners on the Fragmentation of Fish Meat Sausage by Mastication

“…22,23) The fragment size and cumulative number for each sample were respectively plotted on the horizontal and vertical axes as shown in Fig. 3.…”

“…3b-d and k-m) fit the log-normal distribution by more than 90%, and no influence of the addition ratio of the dispersion medium was apparent. Kobayashi et al 22,23) have reported that cumulative numbers of food fragments fitting a log-normal distri- 25% w/w, 50% w/w, 75% w/w, 100% w/w fish sausage. a, p < 0:05, ‹, 25% w/w, FS < 50, 75% w/w, ›, 25% w/w < 50, 75% w/w, FS, fl, 25% w/w > 50, 75% w/w, FS,°, 25% w/w, FS > 50, 75% w/w; b, p < 0:05, ‹, 25% w/w < 50, 75% w/w, ›, 25% w/w < 50, 75% w/w, FS,°, 25% w/w, FS > 50, 75% w/w; c, p < 0:05,°, 75% w/w < FS; d, p < 0:05, ‹, FS < 75% w/w, ›, 25% w/w < 50% w/w,°, 25, 50, 75% w/w < FS, 25% w/w > 75% w/w.…”

“…No influence from the constituents of fish meat sausage was apparent, since the sample and dispersion medium were mixed just before chewing. The fish meat sausage was cut into pieces measuring 1 Â 1 Â 0:2 cm 3 (0.19 g) based on reports by Kohyama 24) and Kobayashi et al 22,23) and giving a hardness of ð0:79 AE 0:12Þ Â 10 3 Pa. The thickeners used for people with dysphagia are classified into three basic groups: starch, guar gum and xanthan gum.…”

“…Each subject chewed 15 sample pieces. The surface area size of each food fragment image was numerically analyzed by the method of Kobayashi et al 22,23) Kobayashi et al 22,23) have reported that chewing breakdown is a destruction phenomenon of log-normality in which the size of food fragments is affected by the destruction history, and not consecutive destruction with large impact energy. We therefore examined in the present study whether food fragments created by a continuous breakdown process met a log-normal distribution function.…”

“…In order to offer easily swallowed food for people with reduced masticatory and swallowing functions, it is essential to analyze the physical properties of the food bolus in the oral cavity upon mastication. Although there have been studies on measurements of the bolus such as those by Suzuki et al 21) and Kobayashi et al, 22,23) to the best of our knowledge, there has been no study yet that investigated the effect of added thickeners on the fragmentation of solids. The present study analyzes the food fragment size by a numerical method, using samples of solids with added thickeners as the model.…”