Presence of fish bones ingested with fish in the oral cavity and pharynx (1)

Abstract

  Japan is surrounded by the sea, and has many rivers and lakes. Therefore, fish and shellfish are an excellent food resource for the Japanese, and various methods of preparing fish have been developed. In recent years, however, young people have decreased their intake of fish. We investigated two aspects of fish intake. We first administered a questionnaire to female college students in their 20s regarding their attitude about consuming fish and fish bones. We then examined effective chewing methods. Based on the answers to the questionnaire, the most commonly ingested fish are salmon, tuna, mackerel, horse mackerel, sea bream, and Sauries. Grilled and raw fish are most commonly consumed, accounting for 76. 8% of consumed fish. Other findings indicate that young people dislike eel, sardines, horse mackerel and sauries mainly because they contain too many bones (39. 4%). The bones are one of the main reasons for disliking fish. Several fish are difficult to eat, such as Sauries, horse mackerel, sardine, and eel. Their bones tend to stick to the pharyngeal wall and nearby mucous membrane. Although people try to remove small bones before cooking and eating, they usually do not attempt to remove the fish bones after putting the fish into their mouths.Thus, the remaining fish bones can get caught in the throat. Chewing method was analyzed by examining the number of chewing movements. Chewing 20 times made little difference; chewing 30 times produced a mixture of broken bones and meat; chewing 40 times produced some clusters and bones were mostly broken down; chewing 50 times produced a puree in which it was difficult to distinguish the bones from the meat, making it easier to swallow. Thus, long fish bones (20-30mm) can be swallowed easily after efficient chewing action to break the bones into smaller (<10mm) pieces, thereby decreasing the possibility of choking.The findings of our survey indicate that the main reason for the decreased fish consumption is the presence of fish bones. Choking problems caused by fish bones can be resolved by chewing the fish more than 30 times, which makes it easier to swallow any bones remaining in the fish. Further, consuming fish bones provides nutrition in the form of calcium.