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A special food for old people has been invented.
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Employees of the Lithuanian University of Technology in Kaunas have developed a special diet for the elderly with impaired swallowing function associated with post-stroke conditions, tumors, cicatricial changes in the esophagus, etc. The new type of food is designed to improve the well-being of elderly patients.
Elderly people suffering from dysphagia – a disorder of swallowing function – almost always have a deficiency of certain substances in the body. Most elderly people experience a deficiency of protein, B vitamins and ascorbic acid, as well as many minerals (such as selenium and zinc), unsaturated fatty acids. A poor and deficient diet against the background of insufficient body weight leads to the fact that the health of patients slowly deteriorates, physical and mental abilities deteriorate, vision suffers, taste perception changes, and the risk of an early death increases. What to do if products rich in essential nutrients and at the same time easy for elderly people to consume are almost impossible to find? New work by specialists from Lithuania has given hope to many elderly people.
They invented new food for patients with swallowing disorders: this food is attractive in appearance and quite pleasant in taste. It is enriched with unsaturated fats, has a reduced carbohydrate-lactose content, contains fat-soluble vitamins A and D, B-group vitamins, microelements - zinc, calcium, selenium. The food has a paste-like consistency, it is easy to swallow even for a person with impaired swallowing function. Black chokeberry extract gives the product a pleasant color, improves the taste, saturates it with anthocyanins - plant glycosides.
The production of this food is based on encapsulation technology: the active components are retained in the outgoing material, as a result, it becomes easier for the digestive system to extract the necessary substances from the food and digest them.
Scientists have already conducted the first tests of the development in the clinical department of the Lithuanian University of Health. A group of patients who consumed 200 g of the new product in the morning and evening for 10 days in a row demonstrated weight gain and improved physical activity. In addition, the patients' blood levels of cyanocobalamin increased. No side effects were noted.
The project to develop the new product lasted for about nine months. The food was compared with a similar Polish analogue. It turned out that the Lithuanian product was more nutritious and much more effective in improving the health of elderly patients.
Dysphagia in the elderly is a problem that is rarely discussed. And not at all because such a problem does not exist. It is impossible not to take into account that the impossibility of normal food intake often leads to the fact that elderly people withdraw into themselves, isolate themselves from communication, and drive themselves into depression. Giving such people a chance is what scientists are trying to take care of.
The information was published on the official website of the Lithuanian University of Technology (ktu.edu)