2024 Volume 28 Issue 1 Pages 21-28
Background and Purpose: Traditionally, minced foods and soft foods have been offered to individuals with reduced occlusal force (OF). The purpose of this study was to compare the masticatory efficiency (ME) between minced and soft foods, and to clarify whether minced foods are effective in reduced OF.
Methods: Carrot samples were prepared in the form of soft bites with artificial saliva, soft chunks with thickening liquid, uncooked chunks with artificial saliva, and uncooked chunks with thickening liquid. Using a simplified mock mastication device, each sample was masticated 30 times at a mastication speed of one time per second, with OF of 50, 100, 150, and 200 N. After mastication, each sample was sieved through a 1.7-mm mesh sieve, and each ME was calculated from the residual amount on the sieve. Finally, the values were compared statistically.
Results: The ME of the soft bites was significantly higher than that of the uncooked chunks with artificial saliva, and uncooked chunks with thickening liquid (p＜0.001 for all). There was no significant difference in ME between the soft bites and soft chunks with thickening liquid at OF of 50 N and 100 N (p＝0.206 and p＝0.353, respectively). At OF of 150 N and 200 N , the ME of soft bites was significantly higher than that of soft chunks (p＝0.020, p＝0.014, respectively). There was no significant difference in ME between uncooked chunks with artificial saliva and with thickening liquid at all OF.
Discussion and Conclusions: The ME of chopped hard foods was significantly lower than that of soft bites. The ME of the soft chunks was the same or lower than that of the soft bites, and there was no effect of chopping on the ME. There was no significant difference between the ME of chopped hard foods with or without thickening liquid, suggesting that thickening has no effect on the decreased OF. Therefore, soft and easy-to-chew food is more suitable for people with decreased OF who do not have dysphagia than minced food.
