Food Bolus Texture and Tongue Activity Just before Swallowing in Human Mastication.

Abstract

We investigatedthe effects of the physical properties of food boluses on tongue activity just beforeswallowing during food rnastication inhumans．Electromyographic （EMG ） activity was recorded fromthe skin over the rnylohyoid muscle （MH ）of eight adult subjectS duringmastication of three kinds of food （gumi candy ： G，pe且 nuts ： P，rice cake ： RC ）．The texture Qf foodbolusescollected from the oral cavity justbeforeswallowing was measured using a creep meter according to a textureprofile analysis ．The amplitude of the MH −EMG justbeforeswallowing was significantly （p く 0．001）largerduringmastication of RC than of G and P．Adhesivenesswas significantly （p ＜ 0．001） higherinthe RC boluses than inthe G and P boluses．These results suggest thathighlyadhesive triturated foodrequireSforceful movements of the tongue to form a bo］us justbeforeswallowing ．