Application of sensory stimulus mimicking oral sensation during chewing for preventing diarrhea and aspiration pneumonia in tube feeding patients: a foundation examination

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Diarrhea and aspiration pneumonia of tube-feeding elderly persons are serious problems of the nursing-care facilities. Based on the hypothesis that the lack of various oral sensations, which facilitate motility, secretion, and other activities related digestive and absorptive function of gastrointestinal tract in normal food-intake situation, may be related to these symptoms, we investigated the effects of oral stimulus, which mimicked oral sensations during food ingestion, on gastrointestinal motion after ingesting liquid diet. As compared with rhythmical stimulation applied mechanically to the palate in the rhythm of normal mastication, gustatory stimulus was more effective in the activation of motion, even when salivary secretion was experimentally suppressed.