An alternative elongational method to study the effect of saliva on thickened fluids for dysphagia nutritional support
2018
Turcanu, Mihaela | Siegert, Nadja | Secouard, Sébastien | Brito-de la Fuente, Edmundo | Balan, Corneliu | Gallegos, Crispulo
Powder thickeners are used to modify liquid consistency in dysphagia management. These thickeners may contain starches, gums or their mixtures. Since the salivary α-amylase enzyme favours starch hydrolysis, this might affect the overall rheology of thickened fluids. This study provides a first insight into the impact of salivary α-amylase on the elongational properties of different types of thickened fluids, differentiating between gum-based and starch-based fluids, when considering the axial force developed during uniaxial elongation. The experimental results obtained in this study showed a dramatic decrease in the axial force as a result of salivary α-amylase addition to a pudding-like starch-based thickened fluid, while no significant change was observed after addition to a pudding-like gum-based thickened fluid. Monitoring axial forces during the stretching phase of CaBER was found to be a quick alternative method to identify structural changes of pudding-like thickened fluids in the presence of saliva, for which the conventional CaBER experiments are technically limited.
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