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Chewing Well Modulates Pharyngeal Bolus Transit During Swallowing in Healthy Participants

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Abstract

Mastication is controlled by central pattern generator in the brainstem and can be modulated by volition. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of chewing well on swallowing. Twenty-six healthy participants were instructed to eat 8, 12, and/or 16 g of steamed rice with barium sulphate under the following two conditions: chewing freely task (CF; chewing naturally in their usual manner) and chewing well task (CW; chewing the food with a request to “chew well”). We evaluated bolus transport and swallowing movement using videofluoroscopy and electromyography of the masseter, suprahyoid and thyrohyoid muscles. The chewing time and pharyngeal transit time (PTT) at the first swallow showed high reproducibility in both CF and CW. PTT for CW was significantly shorter and longer than CF in 12 and 16 g, respectively. In 12 g, CW increased the pharyngeal bolus velocity and decreased thyrohyoid EMG activity during swallowing compared with CF. In 16 g, the difference between CW and CF in the estimated swallowed bolus volume was positively correlated with that in upper esophageal sphincter transit duration. We speculate that CW modulates PTT during swallowing depending on the mouthful volume.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author T.T. upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

CW:

Chewing well

CF:

Chewing freely

EMG:

Electromyography

PTT:

Pharyngeal transit time

ICC:

Intraclass correlation coefficient

Mas:

Masseter

SD:

Standard deviation

SH:

Suprahyoid

TH:

Thyrohyoid

UES:

Upper esophageal sphincter

VF:

Videofluoroscopy

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Acknowledgements

We thank Helen Jeays, BDSc AE, from Edanz (https://jp.edanz.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

This study was supported in part by a grant from JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Numbers 20K10069 to T.T.) and a grant from Food and Health Science Yazuya to T.T.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Dysphagia Rehabilitation, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 2-5274 Gakkocho-dori, Chuo-Ku, Niigata, 951-8514, Japan

    Akira Okubo, Takanori Tsujimura, Taku Suzuki, Yuhei Tsutsui, Yuta Nakajima, Nobuaki Saka, Anna Sasa, Eri Takei, Jin Magara & Makoto Inoue

  2. Swallowing Center, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan

    Rumi Ueha

  3. Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan

    Rumi Ueha

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  1. Akira Okubo
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Correspondence to Takanori Tsujimura.

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Ethical Approval and Consent

The Ethics Committee of Niigata University approved this study (approval number: 2020-0173). The participants provided written informed consent, and the study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the Ethical Guidelines for Medical and Health Research Involving Human Subjects.

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Okubo, A., Tsujimura, T., Ueha, R. et al. Chewing Well Modulates Pharyngeal Bolus Transit During Swallowing in Healthy Participants. Dysphagia (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-024-10689-z

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