Food oral breaking and the determining role of tongue muscle strength

Our results confirm the great variability of tongue muscle strength among healthy individuals, with the highest MITP reaching 75 kPa and the lowest at only 17 kPa. The correlation study of tongue strength and the threshold gel/mashed potato strength for tongue-only oral breaking reveals a positive relationship between the two factors, which suggests that strong tongue muscle strength is always advantageous for oral handling (break/smashing) of viscoelastic and pastry foods. Conclusions obtained from this work can be a useful guidance to food design for elderly consumption.