Suitability of food in a rehabilitation hospital for patients with neurologic dysphagia.

Texture-modified food is a common strategy in dysphagia management for increasing safety of swallowing. It is essential for the patient to receive the prescribed diet based on clinical and instrumental examination of swallowing in order to be able to benefit from rehabilitation and avoid complications. Variations in terminology and definitions regarding texture-modified food and liquids demonstrate the need for international standardized terminology. We aimed to assess suitability of texture-modified diets used at a rehabilitation hospital in terms of the International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative guidelines. A texture-modified main dish was analyzed for 5 days (15 samples of pureed and 10 samples of minced texture) at lunch time by 2 trained assessors using International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative-recommended testing methods. The majority of pureed and minced food samples did not suit the comparable International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative levels. The results underline the need for implementing the International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative guidelines in order to provide an appropriate texture-modified diet for patients with neurogenic dysphagia and support dysphagia management within inpatient rehabilitation.