Swallowing is an essential bodily function for everyday life. On average, people swallow between 500-700 times a day; three times an hour while sleeping, once a minute while awake, and as often as needed. Dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, disrupts the body’s ability to swallow normally – and unfortunately, it’s one of the most common illnesses to come with age.
Mealtimes can present unique challenges for aged care residents with dysphagia or other swallowing difficulties. The preferred approach is to modify the texture of meals served through aged care food services to make them thicker or thinner as required for the individual resident’s health. The International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI) has set clear standards to ensure consistency and safety in texture-modified diets, but proper implementation of these standards is essential.
Here at Cater Care, our aged care catering team understands that delivering a nutritious, safe, and appealing dining experience to residents with dysphagia requires more than sticking to the dietary guidelines. That’s why we operate a complex series of strategies to mitigate these risks wherever possible and ensure that everyone can enjoy a delicious meal when they sit down to eat, no matter their state of health.
For more about the challenges associated with texture-modified diets in aged care food services and how our team members mitigate them wherever possible, click the link below!
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