Contribution of Different Tastes on 100 mL Water Swallow Test

Abstract

Introduction: The complex sensory motor activity of swallow consists of transferring food from the mouth to the stomach. Several evidences on swallow biomechanics reveal different tastes leading to variations in swallow. However, there exists dearth of studies exploring this area using simple noninvasive effective procedure like 100 mL water swallow test. Aims: The present study focused to observe swallow ability across 100 mL neutral, sweet, salt, sour, and bitter liquids in healthy young adults. Materials and methods: A total of 30 healthy adults within the age of 18 to 23 years participated. All were given lukewarm neutral, sweet, sour, salt, and bitter tastes to swallow individually in a handheld 120 mL cup. Simultaneously, the clinician monitored total time taken to swallow and number of hyolaryngeal movements to calculate volume per swallow, time per swallow, and swallow capacity. Subjects also ingested 10 mL of each taste to estimate the taste threshold which were rated on a minima of 0point to a maxima of 10-point visual analog scale. Results: Statistical test and repeated measures of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed no significance at 95% confidence level. However, clinical difference was noted with neutral taste having highest volume per swallow, increased swallow capacity, and least time per swallow. Following this, sweet taste had higher volume per swallow and swallow capacity while sour taste had increased time per swallow. Conclusion: The present study helps in understanding the wide dynamic nature of swallow which modulates the physiology as per the bolus ingested.