Abstract
In the elderly population, one of the restrictive factors in the diet
may be that some foods become troublesome-to-eat as muscle strength
deteriorates with age. The aim of the study was to explore what
characteristics of foods may cause eating difficulties among elderly
respondents in Finland and the United Kingdom (UK). Participants (n=77 in Finland and n=76
in the UK) were from two age groups (23–40 and 60+). Troublesome-to-eat
and easy-to-eat texture characteristics of 19 fruit and 19 vegetables
were elicited using a combination of sorting and laddering interview
techniques. Data were analysed separately for the two age groups and the
two countries. The attributes that were found to be the most
troublesome for both age groups and both countries were the presence of
peel or seeds, and hard and fibrous textures. The main consequences of
these attributes were a difficulty to bite into, to chew, to swallow, or
to prepare. Although, the troublesome texture attributes were perceived
almost in the same way in the two age groups, younger respondents were
more elaborate than the older age group in describing the difficulties
various textures caused them. The British respondents identified more
different attributes and troublesome consequences of fruit and vegetable
textures than the Finnish respondents. However, the main structures of
the hierarchical value maps were very similar.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 517-530 |
Journal | Food Quality and Preference |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2004 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- elderly
- diet
- food
- eating