JP2014001945A - Non-destructive evaluation method of solid food product for person having difficulty in mastication - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for simply, rapidly and objectively discriminating easiness of eating of a solid food product by pressing and crushing with a tongue, and especially to provide a method capable of evaluating the solid food product without destruction.SOLUTION: A solid food product and a rubber elastic body are arranged by being overlapped on each other and integrally compressed in the overlapping direction of them. Strain of both the solid food product and the rubber elastic body are measured and easiness of eating for a person having difficulty in mastication is evaluated from the large or small relation of the measurement result.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for evaluating the ease of crushing a solid food product with the tongue without destroying the solid food product, and a food product that is easily crushed with the tongue evaluated by the above method.

Evaluating the hardness of food is important in the food industry.
Especially for elderly people and infants who are difficult to chew with their teeth, the food is pressed into the palate with the tongue in the mouth and the food is crushed to the extent that it can be swallowed to form a bolus. Action is extremely important, but hard solid foods cannot be crushed with the tongue to form a bolus. Therefore, the evaluation of the hardness of food is indispensable for the design of food for persons with difficulty in chewing such as elderly people and infants.

  Conventionally, the hardness of food is generally evaluated by using the peak load or stress when the probe is pushed in at a constant speed in the vertical direction or the maximum load or stress as an index. .

  The apparatus used for measuring the load or stress includes a stage that is a horizontal plane, a jig (plunger) mounted above the stage, a load or pressure sensor, and a recorder that records the signal from the sensor. And a stage or plunger that moves uniaxially at a constant speed in the vertical direction.

  The sample is placed directly on the stage or placed in a container and placed in the center of the stage.The sample is sandwiched between the stage and the plunger and crushed, and the peak or maximum load or pressure at this time is measured. The hardness of the food is evaluated. The stage, container, and plunger at this time are all made of a rigid material such as aluminum, stainless steel, and Teflon (registered trademark) resin, and the strain in the compression load at the time of measurement is almost zero.

In Japan, there are, for example, special use food standards of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and standards for universal design foods as evaluation standards for the hardness of foods using as an index the value of load or stress measured using such an apparatus. As a reference value (Non-Patent Document 1) of foods that can be crushed by the tongue of food for people with difficulty in chewing in special-use foods of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, those of 5 × 10 ⁴ N / m ² (N / m ² is the same as Pa) The standard value of solid food that can be crushed with the tongue in the universal design food is determined to be 2 × 10 ⁴ Pa or less.

  In the case of a solid food with relatively small fracture strain and a brittle texture, if the food meets the physical property standards of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and universal design food, humans often actually eat it with their tongues. However, in the case of a solid food that has a relatively large fracture strain and is hard to break (easy to deform) in texture, even if the food meets the above physical property standards, it may not be easy to eat by crushing with the tongue. is there.

  In addition, these dynamic determination methods have problems such as measurement values differ depending on the test, and measurement conditions are restricted by the shape and state of solid food (the prescribed method cannot be adopted). is there.

  Furthermore, the food sample to be evaluated is compressed with a plunger, and simultaneously the load and strain during compression are measured continuously, and an approximate quartic curve of strain (X axis)-load (Y axis) is obtained by the least square method. The slope of the tangent at the inflection point of the curve portion before reaching the maximum value in the strain-load curve is calculated, and the slope of the tangent is used as an index representing the hardness of the food during food mastication. A food hardness evaluation method (Patent Document 1), which is characterized by this, has been developed, but requires calculation by a computer and cannot be easily used at the food production site.

  Moreover, since all the evaluation methods of patent document 1 need to add a big distortion to a test sample and to fracture | rupture or destroy a test sample, a test sample will be in the state which cannot be restored after a measurement. Therefore, since the same sample cannot be continuously subjected to another evaluation test, it is necessary to prepare a large number of the same test sample for physical property measurement and sensory evaluation.

  A food property measuring instrument consisting of a palatal container and a tongue-shaped plunger, each of which has a modular palate and tongue shape, and the physical properties of the food (maximum stress, maximum energy, hardness stress, cohesiveness, adhesion) Have been developed (patent document 2, non-patent document 2), but it is necessary to make a specially shaped instrument, and the measurement method is also complicated.

  The evaluation methods in Patent Documents 1 and 2 and Non-Patent Document 2 both compress the test sample using only a rigid member, and use a material that can be flexibly deformed and restored. It is not compressed.

  On the other hand, a swallowing robot using a soft material made of a material that can be deformed and restored flexibly and imitating a human tongue has been developed (Patent Document 3). The purpose is to elucidate the mechanism of swallowing, and with this device it is not possible to determine the texture of food and whether it is easy to eat by crushing with the tongue.

JP 2010-223737 A JP 2000-283975 A JP 2006-39311 A

About handling of food labeling permission for the elderly 15th (February 23, 1994) elderly people Journal of the Japan Society for the Study of Disabled People, Volume 23 (2002) pp. 40-48

  An object of the present invention is to provide a method for easily, quickly, objectively and nondestructively discriminating the ease of eating by crushing a solid food with the tongue. Developed using a method and a method for discriminating solid foods that can be easily eaten by crushing with the tongue even for those who are difficult to chew, such as the elderly and infants, and non-destructive methods Is to provide food.

In the process of developing a method that can easily determine whether a solid food is “easy to be crushed by the tongue” or not, the present inventors developed a solid food (test sample) and 2.0 × 10 ³ Pa to 2.0. When the rubber-like elastic body and the test sample are integrally compressed in the overlapping direction by using a compression tester in a state where the rubber-like elastic bodies of × 10 ⁴ Pa are arranged so as to overlap, the distortion of the test sample is 5%. In the range of 30% to 30%, the strain of the test sample that is sensuously evaluated as easy to crush with the tongue is larger than the strain of the rubber-like elastic body, while the strain of the other test sample is larger than the strain of the rubber-like elastic body. I found it small. That is, the present inventors pushed the solid food to the extent that it does not break in the test, observed the distortion of both the test sample and the rubber elastic body at that time, and compared the magnitude relationship with the tongue. The present inventors have found that it is possible to determine whether the food is crushed and easy to eat, and as a result of further research, the present invention has been completed.

That is, this invention has the aspect as described in each following item.
Item 1.
A method for evaluating the ease of crushing a solid food with the tongue,
A rubbery elastic body having a compressive stress of 2.0 × 10 ³ Pa to 2.0 × 10 ⁴ Pa at 20% compression strain and a solid food are disposed to overlap, the rubbery elastic body and the solid Compressing the shaped food integrally in the overlapping direction, measuring the strain of both the rubber-like elastic body and the solid food, and chewing the solid food from the magnitude relationship between the two strains A method that includes non-destructively assessing whether a person with difficulty is likely to eat.
Item 2.
In the compression, when the solid food is applied with a pressure sufficient to distort the solid food by 5% to 30%, if the distortion of the solid food sample is larger than the distortion of the rubber-like elastic body, the solid food is Item 2. The method according to Item 1, wherein it is determined that it is easy to eat by crushing with a tongue.
Item 3.
Item 3. The method according to Item 1 or 2, wherein the rubber-like elastic body has a compressive fracture stress of 2 × 10 ⁵ Pa or more.
Item 4.
Item 4. The method according to any one of Items 1 to 3, wherein a height of the rubbery elastic body is 90% to 110% of a height of the solid food sample.
Item 5.
Item 5. The method according to any one of Items 1 to 4, wherein the solid food is a gel food.
Item 6.
A solid food for persons with difficulty in chewing, which is determined to be easily crushed by the tongue by the method according to any one of Items 1 to 5.

According to the method of the present invention, it is possible to easily, quickly, objectively and nondestructively evaluate the “easy crushing with a tongue” of a solid food. In addition, by using the evaluation, it is possible to more efficiently develop a solid food that is crushed with the tongue and easy to eat.
The solid food for persons with difficulty in chewing according to the present invention determined to be “easy to be crushed with the tongue” by the method of the present invention is easy to eat even for persons with difficulty in chewing such as elderly people and infants.

It is the schematic of the principal part of the apparatus for evaluating "easiness to crush with a tongue" of solid food. It is the schematic of the principal part of another apparatus for evaluating "easiness to crush with a tongue" of solid food. It is a figure explaining implementation of the method of this invention by the apparatus of FIG.

  DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Modes for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail below, but the present invention is not limited by the following implementation methods and effects, and any form capable of realizing equivalent functions will be described. Is not limited.

The method of the present invention comprises:
A method for evaluating the ease of crushing a solid food with the tongue,
A rubbery elastic body having a compressive stress of 2.0 × 10 ³ Pa to 2.0 × 10 ⁴ Pa at 20% compression strain and a solid food are disposed to overlap, the rubbery elastic body and the solid The solid food sample is integrally compressed in the overlapping direction thereof, the strains of both the rubber-like elastic body and the solid food product are measured, and the magnitude relation between the strains of the both is measured. This includes non-destructive evaluation of whether a person with difficulty chewing is easy to eat.

  In the present specification, “crush with the tongue” means that the solid food is pressed against the palate with the tongue in the oral cavity, and the solid food is crushed to such an extent that it can be swallowed.

[Solid food]
Although the kind of "solid food" evaluated by the method of this invention for the ease of crushing with a tongue is not specifically limited, For example, it is a gel food. The sample must be solid and self-sustained (does not flow under its own weight and remains in shape).

As a sample, the whole solid food to be eaten or a part thereof can be used.
The shape of the sample is preferably a flat plate shape or a column shape. The size of the sample is usually a size that can be put in the oral cavity, and for the purpose of easily performing the test, the height is 10 mm to 20 mm, and the area of each of the upper surface and the lower surface is about 100 to 1000 mm ^2. It is more preferable that the height is 10 mm to 15 mm, and the area of the upper surface and the lower surface is 200 to 800 mm ² , respectively.
In the present specification, the height of the sample means the maximum height when the sample is placed.

[Rubber elastic body]
Examples of the base material of the “rubber-like elastic body” include natural rubber derived from rubber sap; acrylic rubber, polyacrylamide rubber, nitrile rubber, isoprene rubber, urethane rubber, ethylene propylene rubber, chlorosulfonated polyethylene rubber, epichlorohydrin rubber, Synthetic rubbers such as chloroprene rubber, silicon rubber, styrene / butadiene rubber, butadiene rubber, fluorine rubber, polyisobutylene rubber; and mixed rubbers thereof.

Compressive stress of "rubber-like elastic body" is the compressive strain of 20% at, is preferably ^{2.0 × 10 3 Pa~2.0 × 10 4} Pa, 2.0 × 10 3 Pa~1.2 more preferably × a ¹⁰ 4 Pa, further preferably ^{2.0 × 10 3 Pa~4.0 × 10 3} Pa. According to the original study by the present inventors, this compressive stress is almost equal to the compressive stress when the human tongue compressive strain is 20%.

  In the present specification, “compression strain” means a value obtained by dividing the deformation dimension of the test piece in the direction in which compression is applied by the original dimension in that direction.

  The “compressive strain” of the “rubber-like elastic body” can be easily measured by a jig (plunger) which is a movable part movable in a uniaxial direction or a uniaxial compression tester having a position sensor on a mount.

  The compression stress of the “rubber-like elastic body” depends on the selection of the base material; addition of a solidifying agent such as a vulcanization accelerator, crosslinking reaction conditions such as a crosslinking reaction time, and crosslinking reaction inhibitor and diluent (thinner). It can be adjusted by addition.

The “rubber-like elastic body” must not be easily broken by compression. The compressive fracture stress of the rubber-like elastic body used in the present invention is preferably 2 × 10 ⁵ Pa or more, more preferably 4 × 10 ⁵ Pa or more.

  In the present specification, “compression fracture stress” means a stress that occurs at the moment of fracture of a test piece due to compression.

The “rubber-like elastic body” has at least a pair of parallel surfaces.
Here, the term “parallel” does not need to be completely parallel, and may be substantially parallel to the extent that the effects of the present invention can be obtained, but is preferably close to perfect parallel.

The “rubber-like elastic body” and the sample of “solid food” are arranged to overlap each other.
In one aspect of the present invention, the sample of “solid food” is placed in contact with one of the two surfaces of the “rubber-like elastic body”. In this case, for example, a sample of “solid food” may be placed on one of the two surfaces of “rubber-like elastic body”. In another embodiment of the present invention, the “rubber-like elastic body” is disposed in contact with a sample of “solid food”. In this case, for example, the “rubbery elastic body” may be placed on the “solid food” sample, but the solid food sample evaluated in the present invention is easily deformed. Depending on the weight of the image, it may be compressed and deformed before the compression operation. Therefore, it is preferable to prevent the weight of the rubber-like elastic body from being applied to the solid food sample before the compression operation. A method for realizing this will be described below.

  In this specification, the surface of the rubber-like elastic body that contacts the solid food sample is referred to as a first surface, and the other surface is referred to as the second surface of the rubber-like elastic body.

  The shapes of the two surfaces of the “rubber-like elastic body” are preferably flat. Here, the term “flat” does not need to be completely flat, and may be substantially flat to such an extent that the effects of the present invention can be obtained, but is preferably close to perfect flatness.

"Rubber-like elastic material" is preferably the area of each of the two faces described above is about ² 100 to 1000 mm, and more preferably 200 to 800 mm ^2.
The area of the second surface of the rubber-like elastic body is preferably equal to or larger than the area of the first surface, and more preferably the areas of the two surfaces are equal. Moreover, the area of the 1st surface of a rubber-like elastic body needs to be more than the area of the surface which contacts the rubber-like elastic body of the sample of solid food, and it is more preferable that the area of these two surfaces is equal.

The height of the “rubbery elastic body” is preferably 90% to 110% of the height of the solid food sample. Specifically, the height of the “rubber-like elastic body” is preferably 10 mm to 20 mm, more preferably 10 mm to 15 mm.
The height of the “rubber-like elastic body” is preferably smaller than the short length (the shortest length) of the “rubber-like elastic body”.

〔compression〕
In the method of the present invention, the rubber-like elastic body and the solid food arranged in a stacked manner are integrally compressed in the overlapping direction. Specifically, the compression is performed by sandwiching a rubber-like elastic body and a solid food placed in a stack between a rigid jig (plunger) and a gantry (stage), and then compressing. Such compression can be performed using, for example, a commercially available compression test apparatus.

  Specifically, such an apparatus is, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, a rigid jig (plunger) 1 and a rigid body that can compress a rubber-like elastic body and a solid food in a single axial direction. A gantry (stage) 4 is provided.

  For this reason, at least one of the jig 1 or the gantry 4 needs to be movable at a desired moving speed and moving distance in a uniaxial direction (eg, a vertical direction parallel to the direction of gravity).

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 1, the solid food sample 2 is placed on one of the two surfaces of the rubber-like elastic body 3.

  The black arrows in FIG. 1 indicate the pressure (compression) direction. Both the case where the jig is driven and the case where the mount is driven are possible.

The material of the jig 1 and the gantry 4 is not particularly limited as long as the material has a strain of 1% or less when the compressive stress is 2 × 10 ⁵ Pa. Examples of such materials include metals such as aluminum, iron, copper, zinc, and nickel, and alloys thereof; thermosetting resins such as phenol resins, epoxy resins, melamine resins, and urea resins; and polyethylene and high-density polyethylene. And thermoplastic (plastic) resins such as polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, polystyrene, polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon (registered trademark), PTFE), polycarbonate, and acrylic resin.

  The area of the jig 1 and the gantry 4 needs to be equal to or larger than the areas of the upper and lower surfaces of the sample and the first and second surfaces of the rubber-like elastic body so that the entire sample can be pressurized.

  The “rubber elastic body” is placed on the floor surface so as not to protrude from the floor surface.

  The sample of “solid food” is placed on the “rubber elastic body” so as not to protrude from the first surface of the “rubber elastic body”.

  More preferably, it can sense the load or pressure on the jig, but it is not essential.

  Since devices having these characteristics are generally sold, they can be easily obtained. Examples thereof include a texture analyzer TA-XT plus (manufactured by Stables Micro System Co., Ltd., Eihiro Seiki Co., Ltd.).

  By moving the jig or the base in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1, the rubber-like elastic body and the solid food (test sample) are integrally compressed in the overlapping direction.

  This direction is the direction in which the solid food (test sample) is placed on the rubber-like elastic body, and is usually the gravity direction or the reverse direction of gravity.

  The moving speed of the jig or pedestal may be a level that does not give a large impact to the sample, but is usually 0.01 to 100 mm / second, preferably 0.01 to 40 mm / second, more preferably 0.1 to 10 mm. / Sec., Preferably at a constant speed.

“Easiness of crushing with tongue” for solid foods is the same as that for rubbery elastics and solid foods (test samples) when they are compressed together with pressure that does not destroy the test sample. It is evaluated by the magnitude relationship of the sample distortion.
The strain is _expressed by the following equation when the original height of the test sample or rubber-like elastic body is L ₀ and the height at the time of compression is L _t .

Formula 1

  Preferably, the “easiness of crushing on the tongue” of a solid food product is necessary so that the strain of the test sample is reduced from 5% to 30% in the uniaxial compression of the rubbery elastic body and the test sample. It is evaluated by the magnitude relationship between the strain of the rubber-like elastic body and the test sample when a large pressure (this pressure changes depending on the elastic modulus of the test sample and the rubber-like elastic body) is applied.

  That is, in the region where the strain of the test sample is 5% to 30%, if the strain of the test sample is larger than the strain of the rubber-like elastic body, it is judged that it is easy to crush with the tongue. To be judged. Also, if both strains are of the same degree or the magnitude relationship of both changes due to the strain of the test sample, the test sample is intermediate crushing ease, and when the solid food is actually eaten Can be predicted that the judgment of ease of crushing varies depending on the person who eats. As described above, according to the method of the present invention, it is possible to obtain a result that is very close to the case of performing a test using a sensory evaluation panel.

  In addition, the distortion of the rubber-like elastic body and the test sample was obtained by continuously (moving) shooting the rubber-like elastic body and the test sample using an optical device or the like from a direction orthogonal to the compression direction. It can be determined by measuring the height of the rubber-like elastic body and the test sample with software for image analysis.

  As the optical apparatus used here, a commercially available video camera, a digital camera with a moving image shooting function, or the like can be used. In addition, all image analysis software that can measure the length from the number of pixels of captured image data including those that are generally sold and those that can be used for free can be used in the method of the present application. For example, Winroof (Nippon Denki Co., Ltd.) etc. can be illustrated.

  In another aspect of the present invention, a rubber-like elastic body is disposed on a solid food sample. Below, the said aspect is demonstrated with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. The same components as those described with reference to FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

  In the apparatus shown in FIG. 2, a rubber-like elastic body 3 is fixed to the jig 1 of the apparatus shown in FIG.

  By moving the jig 1 or the gantry 4 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 until the solid food (test sample) 2 and the rubber elastic body 3 come into contact with each other, the rubber elastic body and the solid food are obtained. A state (FIG. 3) in which the sample is placed in an overlapping manner can be obtained. Thereby, before compression, the weight of the rubber-like elastic body can be prevented from being applied to the solid food (test sample).

  Next, when the jig or the gantry moves in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 3, the rubber-like elastic body and the solid food sample are integrally compressed in the overlapping direction.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples. However, the present invention is not limited to these examples.

Preparation of test sample Agar (“Gelup (trademark) J-1630”, manufactured by San-Ei Gen FFI Co., Ltd.) with stirring at 90 g of ion-exchanged water using a propeller stirrer at a rotational speed of 1300 rpm Gelup ™ J-4503 ”and“ Gelup ™ J-4504 ”) or gellan gum (“ Kelcogel ™ ”and“ Kelcogel ™ LT100 ”manufactured by San-Ei Gen FFI Ltd.) The amount shown in Table 1 was added, and further 10 g of sucrose was added, and then this dispersion was heated at 90 ° C. for 10 minutes with continuous stirring to completely dissolve the agar or gellan gum. Further, 0.1 g of calcium lactate pentahydrate was added, and the total weight of these aqueous solutions was adjusted to 100 g with ion-exchanged water, and then 20 m in diameter. , Placed in a sealed container of a cylindrical height 10 mm, and further heated at 85 ° C. 30 min. Then it was immersed in 8 ° C. in a constant temperature water bath each sealed container is gelled by cooling over 1 hour.

Preparation of rubber-like elastic material Silicone (manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.) and silicone thinner (manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.) are mixed in the proportions shown in Table 2, and a curing agent (CAT-RM, manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.). ) Was added to 0.5% of the total amount and further mixed, then placed in a cylindrical sealed container having a diameter of 20 mm and a height of 10 mm, and allowed to stand at room temperature for 3 days to solidify. A film-shaped pressure sensor (manufactured by Nitta Corporation) having a diameter of 3 mm was attached concentrically to a disk having a diameter of 16 mm. A rubber-like elastic body was inserted between this disk and a disk having the same size and parallel plane as this disk, and compressed by 20% using a micrometer capable of calculating the distance between the disks. The stress at this time (that is, when the compressive strain is 20%) was measured, and the results are shown in Table 2. This test was conducted in a room whose temperature was adjusted to 20 ° C.

In addition, as shown in this table, the rubber-like elastic bodies 2 and 3 have a compressive stress in the range of 2.0 × 10 ³ Pa to 2.0 × 10 ⁴ Pa at 20% compression, and the rubber-like elastic body 1 And 4 were outside this range.

sensory evaluation
Seven healthy subjects aged 25 to 39 years old (5 men, 2 women, average 31.0 years old) were subjects, and test samples 1 to 6 were fed freely in order, and “easy to eat by crushing with tongue” Or “mastication with teeth is necessary”. All tests were conducted in a room adjusted to 20 ° C. Table 3 shows the percentage of subjects who answered that they were easy to eat by crushing with their tongue.

  Samples 1 and 4 to be tested were judged to be “easy to eat by being crushed with the tongue” by all the subjects, and samples 2 and 5 were answered that almost half of the subjects were “easy to eat by being crushed by the tongue”. On the other hand, in the test samples 3 and 6, most subjects answered that “mastication using teeth is necessary”.

Deformation behavior of the test sample when the rubber-like elastic body and the test sample are integrally compressed in the overlapping direction The test samples (1 to 6) are placed on the rubber-like elastic body (1 to 4), From above, it was compressed integrally in the overlapping direction using an aluminum rigid jig (disk shape) having a diameter of 50 mm. The test sample and the rubber-like elastic body were deformed by moving the jig downward at a speed of 10 mm / s using a texture analyzer TA-XT plus (manufactured by Stables Micro System, agency Eihiro Seiki Co., Ltd.). The strain of the test sample is 0% to 30%, and all are non-destructive regions. After taking a video using the digital camera DMC-FX70 (Panasonic Corporation) from the direction (straight side) perpendicular to the moving direction of the jig, it is converted into a still image at an interval of 1/15 second per frame, and image analysis software The strain of the test sample and the rubber-like elastic body was measured using WinRoof Ver, 5.9 (Nippon Denki Co., Ltd.). All tests were performed in a room temperature controlled to 20 ° C. The results are shown in Table 4.

  In the table, when the strain of the test sample is larger than the strain of the rubber-like elastic body, an underline is added to the numerical value. A sample having an underline in the entire strain region is indicated by ◯, a sample having an underline in a part of the region but not all is indicated by Δ, and a sample having no underline in the entire region is indicated by ×. Also, in the table, the result of the sensory test indicates that the percentage of responding that “it is easy to eat by crushing with the tongue” is 0% -20% ×; 21% -79% is △; 80% -100% In the case of, also indicate as ○.

  When the test sample was deformed on the rubber-like elastic body 1, the strain of the test sample was always smaller than that of the rubber-like elastic body in all the test samples (except for the strain of 4.9% of the test sample 4). On the other hand, when the test sample was deformed on the rubber-like elastic body 4, the strain of the test sample was always larger than that of the rubber-like elastic body in all the test samples.

  On the other hand, when the test samples are deformed on the rubber-like elastic bodies 2 and 3, the strains of the test samples 1 and 4 that all the subjects have judged to be “easy to eat by crushing with the tongue” are larger than those of the rubber-like elastic bodies. The strains of test samples 3 and 6 that were always large and, conversely, that most subjects determined that “mastication using teeth” was necessary were always smaller than the strains of rubber-like elastic bodies. As for test samples 2 and 5, which are judged to be easy to eat by being crushed by the tongue, about half of the subjects are generally distorted more greatly in the low strain region than the rubber-like elastic body, and conversely in the high strain region. Then, the rubber-like elastic body was distorted more greatly than the test sample.

As can be seen from Table 4, when the discrimination test was performed using the rubber-like elastic bodies 2 and 3, the magnitude relationship between the strain of the test sample and the rubber-like elastic body and the “eating by crushing with the tongue” in the sensory evaluation The evaluation results of “Ease” were in agreement. That is, by a test in which a rubber-like elastic body having a compressive stress at a compressive strain of 20% of 2.0 × 10 ³ Pa to 2.0 × 10 ⁴ Pa and a test sample are integrally compressed in the overlapping direction, It was found that it was possible to determine whether solid food was “easy to eat by crushing with the tongue”. On the other hand, when a rubber-like elastic body whose compressive stress at 20% compressive strain is outside the above range is used, the strain relationship between the test sample and the rubber-like elastic body and sensory evaluation “ease of eating by crushing with the tongue” The evaluation results did not match.

Comparison with the existing method As an existing evaluation method for “ease of eating by crushing with the tongue”, there is a “hardness measurement method based on the food standards for the elderly of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare” (hereinafter referred to as the existing method). In this evaluation method, at a test temperature of 20 ± 2 ° C., a solid food is filled into a container having a diameter of 40 mm and a height of 15 mm, and a device capable of measuring the compressive stress of the substance by linear motion is used. Using a jig (cylinder or disk) with a compression stress of 5 × 10 ⁴ Pa or less when measured at a compression rate of 10 mm / sec and a clearance of 5 mm, the food is judged to be “easy to eat by crushing with the tongue” The universal design hood standard (2 × 10 ⁴ Pa or less) is generally based on this. In this method, test samples 1 to 6 were measured, and those judged to be foods that were “easy to eat by crushing with the tongue” were indicated as “◯”, and those that were not were indicated as “X” in Table 5. The evaluation using the rubber-like elastic body 2 as the evaluation method of the present invention and the results of sensory evaluation are also shown.

* If the percentage of respondents who “crush with the tongue is easy to eat” is 0% to 20%, it is marked as X; 21% to 79% is △; 80% to 100% is marked as ○.

  When the existing method was used, all the test samples other than the test sample 3 were judged to be “easy to eat by crushing with the tongue”. In particular, even in the test sample 6 in which most subjects determined that “mastication using teeth is necessary” in sensory evaluation, it was determined that the food was “easy to eat by crushing with the tongue” by the existing method. In the case of foods with a relatively small break strain such as agar gel and a brittle texture, the results agree with the sensory evaluation results, but in the case of foods with a relatively large fracture strain and a texture that is difficult to break (easy to deform) Results that are completely different from sensory evaluation may be obtained. In the evaluation of crushing with the tongue, the evaluation method of the present invention that uses a rubber-like elastic body close to the elastic modulus of a human tongue is very highly correlated with the sensory evaluation, compared to the existing method that uses a measurement system consisting of a rigid body. Is considered a more appropriate method.

  As described above, the evaluation method according to the present invention can be carried out without damaging or breaking the test sample by applying a large strain to the test sample as in the prior art. Therefore, it is possible to continue the same test sample for another evaluation test without making the test sample unrecoverable after measurement, and it is necessary to prepare a large number of the same test sample for physical property measurement and sensory evaluation. The evaluation can be performed easily and efficiently.

The method of the present invention can be used for the development of a solid food that is crushed with the tongue and easy to eat.
The solid food for persons with difficulty in chewing according to the present invention is easy to eat for the elderly and infants.

1 Jig (plunger)
2 Solid food (test sample)
3 Rubber-like elastic body 4 Base (stage)

Claims (6)

A method for evaluating the ease of crushing a solid food with the tongue,
Arranging a rubber-like elastic body having a compressive stress of 2.0 × 10 ³ Pa to 2.0 × 10 ⁴ Pa at a compressive strain of 20% and a sample of solid food, the rubber-like elastic body, and The solid food sample is integrally compressed in the overlapping direction, the strains of both the solid food and the rubber-like elastic body are measured, and the solid relationship is determined from the magnitude relationship between the two strains. A method comprising nondestructively evaluating whether a sample of shaped food is easy to eat for persons with difficulty in chewing. In the compression, when the solid food is applied with a pressure sufficient to distort the solid food by 5% to 30%, if the distortion of the solid food sample is larger than the distortion of the rubber-like elastic body, the solid food is The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is determined to be easy to eat by crushing with a tongue. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the compression failure stress of the rubber-like elastic body is 2 x 10 ⁵ Pa or more. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a height of the rubber-like elastic body is 90% to 110% of a height of the sample of the solid food. The method according to claim 1, wherein the solid food is a gel food. A solid food for persons with difficulty in chewing, which has been determined to be easy to eat by being crushed by the tongue by the method according to claim 1.

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