1997 Volume 1 Issue 1 Pages 57-68
Mealtimes provide one of the great pleasures in the lives of elderly people． There are，however，only a few study reports available today on the relationship between the decline in feeding functions and meal content．The purpose of this study was to clarify the actual feeding conditions at meals and to evaluate how our test food（a gelatin dessert）affects feeding functions．The subjects were 97 housebound elderly persons（including those with acquired physical-mental impairment）．We conducted an experiment using a test food to evaluate individual subjects feeding functions，as well as interviewing each of the subjects，assisted by a caregiver if necessary，to get detailed information on his/her feeding conditions．We obtained the following results：
1． ln the interview，32 out of 97 subjects（33.3％）reported experiencing choking during their regular meals while，in the experiment（using the test food），only 7 out of 93 subjects（7.5％）reported it．
2． ln the interview， out of those who had acquired cerebro-vascular disorders or dementia，it was indicated that many were subject to frequent choking during their regular meal．On the other hand，in the experiment，out of those subjects who had acquired Parkinson’s disease，many were subject to frequent choking during the meal．
3． Regarding the causes of the choking， the interview revealed that 10 out of 30 subjects （33.3％） attributed it to unstable posture， 15 out of 27 subjects （56.6％） to an inappropriate upper-body position， and 13 out of 28 subjects （46.5％） to a head position with an inappropriate neck angle．
4． Regarding the causes of choking during the test food meal，the experiment revealed that 5 out of 7 subjects （71.4％） attributed it to an unstable posture，4 out of 6 subjects （66.6％） to an inappropriate upper-body position， and 4 out of 6 subjects （66.6％） to a head position with an inappropriate neck angle．
