A white plate with slices of boiled potatoes, two white sausages, mashed green peas, and mashed carrots. The dish is topped with brown gravy.
Aase Haugen chef, Darrien Black, creates pureed foods to be formed to resemble the actual food with a goal of improving the dining experience for the residents.

Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) is a geriatric syndrome affecting 10% to 33% of older adults, and it’s often seen in addition to other conditions, like dementia, stroke, or Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diseases, according to Mayo Clinic. Dysphagia symptoms include a feeling of coughing or choking when eating or drinking, bringing food back up, persistent drooling or a sensation that food is stuck in your throat or chest, all of which are not pleasant feelings, can be potentially dangerous and may lead to malnutrition. Pureed diets are typically prescribed due to one or more of these reasons.

“We follow IDDSI (International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative) to understand the diet a resident will need,” says Darrien Black, Aase Haugen Chef. “The IDDSI framework consists of 8 levels (0 – 7), where drinks are measured from Levels 0 – 4, and foods are measured from Levels 3 – 7 to describe food textures and drink thicknesses to improve safety for individuals with swallowing difficulties.” IDDSI places foods into categories from Regular to Easy to Chew to Soft and Bite-Sized to Minced and Moist to Pureed, then Liquidized, which has its own set of classifications, from Extremely Thick to Moderately Thick to Slightly Thick to Thin on the beverage side.

“Thin beverages or broths aren’t the best thing for residents with dysphagia,” says Rex Nelson, RN, BSN, Aase Haugen director of operations. “It seems counterintuitive, but it can feel sort of like when a drink “goes down the wrong pipe” and you feel like gasping for air, and that can be frightening for everyone.”

One of the most important goals at Aase Haugen is to provide a great dining experience because meals potentially influence residents’ nutritional, physical, and emotional well-being. “If residents don’t get their nutritional needs met, we can see weight loss and they can decline very quickly,” Nelson says.

“Pureed diets are a challenge to make appealing to the taste and recognizable for residents,” says Black. According to the National Library of Medicine Center (NLMC), people on pureed diets have poorer meal satisfaction than other people on regular diets. “We found that we could improve food intake and potentially reduce the risk of their nutritional status deteriorating by serving pureed food that is formed to resemble the actual food,” explains Black. For example, carrots are formed to look like carrots, as well as peas, potatoes, meat and more. “There should be delight in eating,” says Black. “Good food is important and that doesn’t change with age! We want these folks to enjoy mealtime and maintain the best quality of life possible and we can support that by serving food with intention and attention to detail.”

Posted November 11, 2024 in Programs
All News