Nutritional Textures, Temperatures, and Viscosities for Older Patients

Course Description: Changes associated with normal aging may often have an impact on food texture choices for normal healthy elders. Subsequent disease processes and effects of medications for those disorders often add even further complications and risks.  Dietary departments are thus presented with a range of challenges, given each elder’s preferences and choices; such factors often do not align with the given clinical recommendations.  This course will address the rationales behind specific dietary textural modifications, to include such factors as food and liquid temperatures, viscosities, moisture content and adhesive factors.  Given the increased factors of dry mouth (xerostomia) and choking risks, compensations of aroma, flavor and hydration options will be reviewed to improve the safe nutritional intake of this older at-risk population.  Dietary strategies and unique clinical recommendations for nutritional content and swallow-safe food textures will be shared for this elder population with increased clinical complexities.