Objective and subjective assessment of digestion after ingestion of an iced dessert in healthy volunteers

Abstract

The aim of our study is to assess, with objective measures, the impact on digestion of a coffee-flavoured iced dessert ingested at the end of a standardized meal; moreover, a subjective assessment, using a specific questionnaire, was carried out in order to compare objective and subjective data. Ten healthy male volunteers, after ENT and psychological assessment, underwent two scintigraphic evaluations (standardized meal without and with coffee-flavoured iced dessert) and, after the meal, filled in a specific questionnaire named dynamic digestibility questionnaire. In our sample the ingestion of the coffee-flavoured iced dessert seemed to improve the digestibility of a standardized meal: the difference between the curves of gastric emptying without and with iced dessert is statistically significant. These data are strongly confirmed by subjective assessment: the dynamic digestibility questionnaire (DDQ) showed a higher digestibility of a standardized meal with the coffee-flavoured iced dessert in comparison to a normal meal. The current study represents a preliminary report on this topic with a small sample of healthy volunteers: further studies on larger population are requested in order to confirm all the encouraging results herein discussed.