Many older adults suffer from difficulty swallowing thin beverages like water or coffee. To improve swallowing safety, beverages are typically thickened. This creates a new problem: the thickened beverages can be disgusting. New research suggests chemesthesis, particularly spiciness, carbonation, or intense sourness, could improve swallowing without the need for thickeners. Yet, whether such beverages would be liked by older adults is unknown. We thus conducted this experiment to establish older adults' sensory perception and liking/disliking of commercially available chemesthetic beverages. We recruited participants to rate sweetness, sourness, fizziness, stinging, and liking/disliking of unsweetened carbonated waters (1 plain, 5 flavored), sour orange juice, spicy ginger beer, and colas (sugar or aspartame sweetened). Initial tests (N=30 older adults) indicated sour orange juice, spicy ginger beer, and two of the flavored waters were not well-liked, so the other beverages were selected for a second test (N=94, 30 younger adults, 64 older adults). Sweetened, carbonated colas were the best liked of the beverages. The unsweetened, flavored carbonated waters were in general not liked. Regarding comparisons of sensory ratings between older and younger adults, only sweetness differed between age groups. In particular, intensity ratings for the chemesthetic aspects of the beverages (stinging/burning/spiciness, fizziness) and sour taste did not differ by age. As the chemesthetic properties are the most likely reason the beverages could aid in swallowing safety, observing no suppression of these sensations in older adults is encouraging for the potential of these products as a treatment option. Key words: dysphagia, beverages, palatability, carbonation, chemesthesis This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

中文翻译：

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美国老年人喜欢加糖可乐，但不喜欢其他化学饮料

许多老年人难以吞咽稀薄的饮料，如水或咖啡。为了提高吞咽安全性，饮料通常会变稠。这就产生了一个新问题：浓稠的饮料可能令人作呕。新的研究表明，化学感觉，特别是辛辣味、碳酸化味或强烈的酸味，可以在不需要增稠剂的情况下改善吞咽。然而，老年人是否会喜欢这种饮料尚不清楚。因此，我们进行了这个实验，以建立老年人对市售化学饮料的感官知觉和喜欢/不喜欢。我们招募参与者对不加糖的碳酸水（1 种原味，5 种风味）、酸橙汁、辛辣姜汁啤酒和可乐（加糖或阿斯巴甜）的甜味、酸味、起泡、刺痛和喜欢/不喜欢进行评分。初步测试（N=30 名老年人）表明酸橙汁、辛辣姜汁啤酒和两种口味的水不太受欢迎，因此选择其他饮料进行第二次测试（N=94，30 名年轻人，64老年人）。加糖的碳酸可乐是最受欢迎的饮料。不加糖、调味的碳酸水一般不受欢迎。关于老年人和年轻人之间感官评级的比较，年龄组之间只有甜味不同。特别是，饮料的化学美学方面（刺痛/灼热/辣味、嘶嘶声）和酸味的强度等级没有因年龄而异。由于化学特性是饮料有助于吞咽安全的最可能原因，观察到老年人的这些感觉没有受到抑制，这对这些产品作为治疗选择的潜力是令人鼓舞的。关键词：吞咽困难、饮料、适口性、碳酸化、化学反应 本文受版权保护。版权所有。