{"id":60417,"date":"2024-10-16T16:00:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T14:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/?p=60417"},"modified":"2024-10-16T14:09:07","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T12:09:07","slug":"researchers-3d-printed-food-for-people-with-difficulty-swallowing-161020245","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/researchers-3d-printed-food-for-people-with-difficulty-swallowing-161020245\/","title":{"rendered":"Could 3D Printed Food Help People with Difficulty Swallowing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

3D printed food<\/a> is nothing new. Several companies, like Steakholder Foods<\/a> and Forma Foods<\/a>, have 3D printed meat and fish alternatives. Others have 3D printed chocolate and reconstituted fruits and vegetables. An international team of researchers at the University of West England Bristol, however, was driven by a unique mission: they wanted to 3D print food for people who have difficulty swallowing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The UWE team was successful, and this month they developed 3D printed meals suitable for people with dysphagia. Dysphagia, the medical term for swallowing difficulties, is a growing concern for today\u2019s aging population. People with dysphagia struggle to swallow certain food and liquids, and some can\u2019t swallow at all. Often, people with dysphagia puree their food and thicken their liquids to manage swallowing, but pureeing food can be bland and unappetizing, and lack nutritional variety.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The 3D printed structure from different angles<\/p><\/div>\n

The UWE team was the first to use an extrusion-based<\/a> 3D food printer to produce multi-ingredient, nutritionally balanced and visually appealing meals that are safe to swallow and digest. Using pureed garden peas, strained Greek yogurt, extra virgin olive oil, powdered organic mint leaves and vegetable stock, the team produced the special meals. They also experimented with novel combinations of food-grade thickeners and gelling agents to ensure an appropriate texture and viscosity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Dr Alexandros Stratakos, who led the research, is Associate Professor in Sustainable Agri-Food Production at UWE Bristol. He explained that <\/span>\u201cWith our 3D printed food, there is significantly less risk of food particles sticking in the throat or the esophagus, which can be very problematic for people with dysphagia. It requires less chewing and has a specially formulated structure which gives more control of the food to the person with dysphagia.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Creating food that was easy to swallow was critical, but the UWE team also prioritized taste and nutrition, working alongside a clinical nutritionist. Dr. Stratakos said, <\/span>\u201cPrevious research on 3D printed food suitable for dysphagia has focused on meals with only one or a small number of ingredients and has paid less attention to the nutritional profile of the food. Our food product is the first that is suitable for people with dysphagia, but at the same time is nutritious, palatable and rich in calories.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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Graphic explanation of the 3D printed food for dysphagia<\/p><\/div>\n

The meals are printed in various shapes and completed quickly, in around twenty minutes. Thankfully, UK-based dysphagia patients and carers were <\/span>\u201coverwhelmingly positive\u201d <\/span><\/i>about the idea of 3D printing food, according to their survey. If commercially available, the respondents would be willing to purchase the high fiber and protein food. Dr. Stratakos said he could also envision food 3D printers being introduced into care homes and hospitals, so food could be printed on-demand for patients.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, the research team is working on new collaborations and grant applications to further their project. They hope to secure funding to complete a clinical trial where the meals are tested with dysphagia patients. According to Dr. Stratakos, the team has tried the food themselves and proclaims<\/span> \u201cit tastes great.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

If further developed, this innovation could make a great impact on people living with dysphagia. <\/span>\u201c[Dysphagia] is a growing issue due to our aging population and will become a bigger healthcare burden both in the UK and internationally,\u201d <\/span><\/i>Dr. Stratakos said. <\/span>\u201cThis study highlights the importance of bringing together multidisciplinary expertise, in this case on food science, additive manufacturing and dietetics\/nutrition, to develop novel solutions for real-world problems.\u201d <\/span><\/i>To learn more about their research, read UWE\u2019s press release here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

What do you think of the 3D printed food for people with difficulty swallowing? <\/span>Let us know in a comment below or on our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0pages! Don\u2019t forget to sign up for our free weekly\u00a0Newsletter<\/a>, with all the latest news in 3D printing delivered straight to your inbox!<\/p>\n

*All Photo Credits: The University of West England Bristol<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3D printed food is nothing new. Several companies, like Steakholder Foods and Forma Foods, have 3D printed meat and fish alternatives. Others have 3D printed chocolate and reconstituted fruits and vegetables. An international team of researchers at the University of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6114,"featured_media":60418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[122,32,1,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3d-printing-food","category-medical","category-news","category-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60417"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66758,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60417\/revisions\/66758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}