[3Na] Physical property of food, Deglutition, Mastication function

[3Na-09] Easiness of chewing and swallowing of cookie-like foods with altered three-dimensional stacked structure

*Makoto Miura¹, Wakana Sasaki¹, Takafumi Takano², Arisa Hakamada², Pengyu Xu³, Shin Yoneyama³ (1. Iwate University, 2. Roland DG Corporation, 3. SynCrest Inc.)

Keywords:Three-dimensional layered structure, Cookie-like food, Easiness of chewing and swallowing, Physical property, Biometrics

Objective: We investigated the relationship between the physical and chemical properties of the food mass, tongue pressure, surface EMG potentials of masseter muscle and suprahyoid muscle group, and the speed of food mass movement in the pharynx and the ease of chewing and swallowing of cookie-like foods with a fine block check structure.Methods: 4 layers of fine wire block check structure were formed by stacking 4 layers of fine wire parallel elements with their line directions orthogonally parallel to each other using a 3-D laminated modeling device. Cookie-like foods were prepared by baking in a deck oven so that the moisture content was equal. The saliva absorption rate was calculated from the difference in moisture content between the food mass and the sample, and the friction characteristic value was defined from the friction force-sliding distance curve by measuring the equally distributed load. The maximum and minimum Feret diameter and the number of particles of the food mass fragments were measured. Tongue pressure and mid- and outer index during chewing and swallowing were measured using a tongue pressure sensor sheet. electromyograms of masseter muscle and suprahyoid muscle group were obtained using special electrodes to measure the maximum muscle action potential and the amount of muscle activity. The velocity of food mass flow in the pharynx was measured by ultrasonic pulse doppler method. 22 panels of subjects were evaluated for ease of chewing and swallowing in one bite.Results: The sample that clumped into a food mass at the early stage of mastication, clumped easily into a food mass in terms of the mid-outer index of tongue pressure, and had the slowest food mass velocity in the pharynx had the highest ease of chewing and swallowing.