What is Dysphagia?

Most of you will already know what Dysphagia is, but for those who don't.....

Dysphagia is a medical term used to describe a swallowing disorder. It is categorised by having a difficulty in chewing and moistening foods in the mouth, or in moving food from the mouth to the stomach.

Weakness of the mouth and the throat muscles can occur in dysphagia and may result in food or drinks "going down the wrong way". This means that the food or drinks go into the lungs instead of the stomach. This can cause chest infections and pneumonia. Modifying food consistency minimises the risk of choking, and minimises the risk of food or drink entering the lungs(aspiration) and can also help minimise the; feeling of food getting stuck in the Oesophagus. Liquids can be thickened (if recommended by your Speech & language Therapist) and foods are altered in Texture.

IDDSI will be introduced to standardise the globe in texture modified foods. We will also have to bear in mind the nutritional content of the food that we are modifying as we don't want to "dilute" the food. Our job as Chef's is to create food that is safe, appealing and nutritionally complete to people with this condition, as the discomfort of eating tends to put them off their food, so they eat less and unfortunately loose weight!

Keep creating foods as they were originally intended to be eaten and my famous line....."Think outside the box!"