Viscosity Measurement Results a Line Spread Test (LST) After Adding Eight Types of Thickeners to Three Types of Universal Design Food (UDF: Can Be Crushed with the Tongue)

Abstract

Aiming at nursing care food that can be prepared at home, we measured the viscosity after adding a thickener using a commercially available universal design food (UDF: Crush with tongue). Viscosity was measured after mixer treatment using UDF (Crush with tongue: “Eel with egg”, “Boiled cutlet”, and “Miso soup with pork and vegetables”). Furthermore, eight types of thickening agents were added to the UDF after the mixer process, and the amount of thickening agent to be added was investigated to achieve an appropriate value (viscosity of 23-32 mm) for nursing care food. Addition of 2g of thickeners A, G, and H resulted in three types of UDF with appropriate viscosities. However, 3g of other thickeners were required to obtain proper viscosity. However, for boiled cutlet, the appropriate value was obtained with the addition of 2g of all eight types of thickeners. Compared to the other two types of UDF, boiled cutlet is characterized by a higher sugar and calcium content. Eight kinds of thickeners are commercially available products containing xanthan gum, among which the thickener containing xanthan gum, polysaccharide thickener, and emulsifier citrate showed the highest viscosity. In the future, it will be necessary to investigate the effects of thickeners on universal design foods (UDF) that can be crushed with the tongue and have different nutritional values.