Free amino acids from meals for people with difficulty in masticating or swallowing classified according to the Food for Special Dietary Uses (FOSDU) were analyzed. Meals were classified based on the dysphagia meal property categorized as I, II, and III . Meal I was the softer and the III the harder.
Two day-dysphagia meals were analyzed from five hospitals located at Oita prefecture. The amount of free amino acids in the dysphagia meals were significantly lower than the minced and normal meals served at hospitals When the category of the dysphagia meals increased, the free non-essential amino acids increased, being the free-glutamate the highest non-essential amino acid. However, when the ratio of free-glutamate/protein was calculated, the amount of this amino acid was not significantly different between I, II, and III. It could be because there was no difference in protein amount among categories of meals.
Recently, it has reported that free-glutamate, which provides the umami taste, has physiological benefits roles such as promoting the digestion functions. Hence, if free- glutamate increases in the meals for people with dysphagia, it could improve their nutritional and health status.

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