Abstract
Yogurt-gel samples, prepared by mixing yogurt with gelatin or agar-derived gelling agents with various molecular weights, were tested to determine how the different physical properties of the samples affected their ease of eating by healthy subjects and the suprahyoid muscular activity while swallowing. The samples with a bolus evaluated as “easily mobile while being conveyed from the oral cavity to the pharynx” were found to require significantly shorter suprahyoid muscular activity time, as well as significantly smaller momentum of suprahyoid muscular activity than the other samples. Each sample bolus was substantially deformed while being conveyed from the oral cavity to the pharynx. The results suggest that the physical properties obtained from substantial deformation of the yogurt-gel samples had an effect on the momentum of suprahyoid muscular activity taking place while swallowing the samples.
