Oral Processing of Mixtures of Food Particles

Abstract

AbstractWe investigated the chewing behavior and fragment size outcome in oral processing of mixtures of food particles. Experiments were conducted with colored gel particles to distinguish particles before and after chewing. Twelve subjects were asked to chew different sized gel particles and expectorate the bolus just before swallowing to measure their fragment size distributions. Chin movement was video‐recorded to measure chewing time and frequency. The results showed that the fragment size of ready‐to‐swallow bolus was affected by the food particle size and the presence of other particles of different sizes. When subjects chewed single‐sized gel particles, smaller particles were chewed less – with the result that they were swallowed more intact. In a mixture of two sizes, larger particles were preferentially selected for chewing so that the smaller particles were chewed significantly less than when chewed on their own, allowing them to be swallowed even more intact.Practical ApplicationsThere is a growing interest from food manufacturers in understanding the oral processes during eating and to apply this to new product development. Although the limits of food particle size and size combination effects still need to be tested within a variety of food products, there may be potential to use these chewing behaviors to influence the fragment size of a swallowed bolus for controlled digestion rate or to minimize adverse sensory effects of healthy food products (e.g., low‐fat, low‐sugar, low‐salt, with added health‐promoting functional ingredients). For instance, it may be possible to minimize the unpleasant taste/odor of phytonutrients by incorporating them into smaller particles in the mix so that they can be swallowed with minimal chewing. On the other hand, it may be possible to maximize sweet/salty tastes by adding sugar/salt to large particles that are more actively chewed. Further studies are necessary to test the feasibility of this concept.