EFFECTIVENESS OF FOOD INNOVATION FOR OLDER PERSONS WITH MILD DYSPHAGIA

Abstract

This two-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of food innovation for older persons with dysphagia. The subjects were 64 older persons with dysphagia who were selected using purposive sampling. They were assigned to the experimental group and the control group, with 32 subjects in each group. The experimental group tested food products, including 1) cooked mixed rice, 2) smoked grilled fish ball, or fish maw soup jelly, 3) banana in coconut milk puree, or snake fruit in syrup puree, once a day for three months. When comparing nutrition between before and after the experiment of the experimental, results showed that 1) hemoglobin, calcium, albumin, and body mass index after the experiment were higher than that of before (p<0.01, p<0.001, p<0.001, and p<0.001 respectively). When comparing between the experimental and control group, it was found that the experimental group had significantly higher hemoglobin, hematocrit, and albumin than the control group (p<0.05, p<0.05, and p<0.001 respectively). This research result indicated that all food products had nutritional values that helped to increase the levels of hemoglobin, hematocrit, calcium, albumin, and body mass index. Thus, they should be used for enhancing nutrition in older persons with dysphagia.