Relationship between Occlusal Condition of the Elderly and Preference for Food Texture

Abstract

The elderly have a diminished level of recognition of small particles in the mouth and a lower taste threshold. In this study, elderly subjects were classified into four groups according to the condition of their teeth and occlusal level. Their preference for various food textures was then related to this grouping. The most preferred texture of cooked rice was that after cooking with a 1.84-fold amount of water (w/w), compared with 1.50-fold for young people. Subjects with good occlusion preferred rice cooked with a 1.77-fold amount of water, while those with poor occlusion preferred rice cooked with a 2.11-fold amount of water. For cubed cooked beef, a long time cooking (300min) was not necessarily suitable for the elderly because, although the meat was tender, they felt it was less juicy and not easy to swallow. Thus beef for consumption by the elderly should be cooked for a shorter time (60min), and cuts should be made invisibly in the central part of the cube. The number of mastication strokes and the mastication time for the same food were significantly higher and larger in the elderly than in the young.