The influence of sour taste and cold temperature in pharyngeal transit duration in patients with stroke

Abstract

Context: The effect of sour taste and food temperature variations in dysphagic patients has not been entirely clarified.

Objective: To determine the effect of sour and cold food in the pharyngeal transit times of patients with stroke.

Methods: Patients participating in this study were 30 right-handed adults, 16 of which were male and 14 were female, aged 41 to 88 (average age 62.3 years) with ictus varying from 1 to 30 days (median of 6 days). To analyze the pharyngeal transit time a videofluoroscopy swallow test was performed. Each patient was observed during swallow of a 5 mL paste bolus given by spoon, totaling four different stimuli (natural, cold, sour and cold sour), one at a time, room temperature (22 degrees C) and cold (8 degrees C) were used. Later, the tests were analyzed using specific software to measure bolus transit time during the pharyngeal phase.

Results: The results showed that the pharyngeal transit time was significantly shorter during swallow of cold sour bolus when compared with other stimuli.

Conclusion: Sour taste stimuli associated to cold temperature cause significant change in swallowing patterns, by shortening the pharyngeal transit time, which may lead to positive effects in patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia.