The evidence for the appropriate use of thickeners in dysphagia management

Objective: EAT-10 helps to measure swallowing difficulties. It may be important for you to talk with your physician about treatment options for symptoms.

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Rofes L, Arreola V, Mukherjee R, Clavé P Neurogastroenterol Motil 2014 Sep;26:1256-65. Aim: To re-validate the accuracy of the Volume-Viscosity Swallow Test (V-VST) for Clinical Assessment by using a new thickening agent with an exclusive formula (ThickenUp® Clear) on 120 patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia associated with age and neurological pathology. Results: The study sh...

Introduction Prescribed thickeners are used to thicken fluids to a more viscose consistency than normal, because drinking thicker fluids has long been thought to reduce the risk of aspiration for people with dysphagia. A recent systematic review has identified that thickening liquids can reduce risk of aspiration.1 Many older people live with dysphagia, and a recent review study2 fou...

Bolus manipulation is a primary treatment strategy in the management of oral-pharyngeal dysphagia. The use of thickening agents to alter bolus rheology is particu-larly commonplace; however, the precise effects of these alterations on swallowing remain uncertain. The purpose of our study, a prospective, double-blind clinical trial (Level 1b), was to investigate the effects o...

For people with dysphagia, it is commonly recommended for fluids to be thickened in order to assist with bolus control and help reduce the risk of choking and aspiration.1-4 However, it has been found that many patients report a dislike of thickened fluids, especially thicker consistencies, thus reducing their quality of life and increasing their risk of dehydration from..

Purpose Diet modification is an established first-line compensatory technique for dysphagia management, and thickeners are used to modify liquids. Commercial thickening agents are used to decrease the flow rate of liquids, and allow patients more time to initiate the swallow. Patients do not always like thickened fluids and so compliance can be difficult to achieve. We unde...

Herentry K, et al. European Geriatric Medicine. 2011;2(S24-S206.). Excellent Compliance1: Does not affect colour, taste and odour of hot or cold liquids or foods. Flavourless & Odourless No lumps in various liquids Practically transparent in water 98% of professionals state that it helps improve compliance* Easy to Prepare6 The results obtained with Resource® ThickenUp® Cle...

NESTLÉ HEALTH SCIENCE 2016 Aim To undertake a trial to compare Resource® ThickenUp™ Clear against their current starch based thickener and address the current difficulties. Method Nestlé Health Science provided samples of Resource® ThickenUp™ Clear to the Stroke Unit to trial this thickener The trial consisted of numerous evaluation components: Taste test – included staff and patients with dysphagia ...

L. Rofes*, V. Arreola†, R. Mukherjee‡, J. Swanson§ & P. Clave*,† *Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red de enfermedades hepaticas y digestivas (CIBERehd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain. †Unitat de Proves Funcionals Digestives, Department de Cirurgia, Hospital de Mataro, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Mataro, Spain. ‡Nestle Research Center, Nestec Ltd, L...

S. Popa Nita •  M. Murith •  H. Chisholm • J. Engmann •  Received: 5 March 2012 / Accepted: 10 December 2012 / Published online: 14 February 2013 The Author(s) 2013. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com S. Popa Nita M. Murith H. Chisholm J. Engmann (&) Nestle´ Research Center, Nestec Ltd, Vers-chez-les-Blanc, PO Box 44, 1000 Lausanne 26,..