Abstract
Commercial cold beverages thickened with a xanthan gum (XG)-based food thickener were examined at different thickness levels by using the simple, cost-effective syringe flow test (SFT) developed by the International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative (IDDSI). We prepared cold thickened beverage (CTB) samples with different thickener concentrations and measured them by extrapolating the viscosity range (51–350 mPa·s) for nectar-like consistency. CTBs were also measured via the line-spread test (LST), and the flow distance value (cm) by LST and the volume remaining (mL) in the syringe by SFT was correlated with the apparent viscosity (ηa,50). Plots comparing ηa,50 with SFT or LST values showed good exponential relationships between the measurements. The SFT showed a better relationship (R2 = 0.928) than LST (R2 = 0.825), indicating that the former can predict the viscosity better in the range for nectar-like consistency. In particular, the SFT showed a significant difference (R2 = 0.964) compared to the LST (R2 = 0.709) for thickened protein-based beverages. These results suggest that the SFT using the IDDSI methodology is a more suitable instrument than the LST for accurately evaluating the viscosity of XG-based CTBs with nectar-like consistency.
Highlights
Oropharyngeal dysphagia refers to swallowing problems when transporting solid or liquid food from the mouth to the esophagus that can lead to aspiration pneumonia [1,2]
Relationship between ηa,50 Values and syringe flow test (SFT) or line-spread test (LST) Values Figure 2 shows the relationship between the ηa,50 values measured with a rheometer and the volume or distance values measured via the SFT and LST methods, respectively
For various cold thickened beverage (CTB) samples prepared with an xanthan gum (XG)-based thickener within the nectarthick viscosity range (51–350 mPa·s), the differences in volume values between thickener concentrations measured via the SFT were greater than those by using distance values measured via LST
Summary
Oropharyngeal dysphagia refers to swallowing problems when transporting solid or liquid food from the mouth to the esophagus that can lead to aspiration pneumonia [1,2]. The use of a sophisticated viscometer or rheometer is needed to provide thickened liquids with more precise viscosity or consistency [7]. These instruments are impractical because they are expensive and inconvenient to use in most clinical care settings. The line-spread test (LST) or the syringe flow test (SFT) introduced by the International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative (IDDSI) has been used as an empirical method in hospitals for estimating the thickness level or viscosity of thickened liquids because the LST and SFT are inexpensive, practical, and simple clinical tools [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. It is known that there is no correlation between the viscosity classification regimes provided by the National Dysphagia Diet Task Force (NDDTF) and IDDSI [15]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
