Resumen de Viscosidad en la dieta de pacientes diagnosticados de disfagia orofaríngea
This doctoral thesis is based on professional experience with patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia. This clinical syndrome, which is highly prevalent in the health and social environment, with very diverse etiologies is systematically underdiagnosed and poorly treated. This leads to unacceptable morbidity rates. The experience acquired with treated patients, conclude in an epidemiological study that allows conclusions to be drawn.
The need for a protocol aimed at the evaluation of risk swallowing, oropharyngeal dysphagia, was detected.
Taking into account the food thickeners and gelatins commonly used to mix with water and food, it was proposed to initiate a laboratory investigation to determine if what was widely done in hospitals, nursing homes, schools and homes was correct or not. This study was carried out at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), using the usual thickeners and a type of gelatine commonly used. This study aimed to check whether certain products recommended for use in diets for people affected by dysphagia adequately fulfill the functions for which they have been designed and manufactured, whether they are pharmaceuticals or simply food additives.
The results obtained confirm that the so-called second-range thickeners, mainly composed of gums (xanthan, guar ...), are safer from the point of view of health than the first range, consisting mainly of starch, modified or not. Significant differences were observed in relation to the resting time of the sample and the percentage of thickener applied to obtain sanitary consistencies: fine liquid, nectar, honey and pudding. Specifically, a 6% thickener of the 1st range is required to achieve the highest consistency, while this value is only 2% in the 2nd range thickener.
Key words: deglutition, thickener, viscosity, starch, gum, glucose.
