ABSTRACT
Dysphagia is a common and frequently undetected complication of many neurological disorders and of sarcopoenia in ageing persons. Spontaneous swallowing frequency (SSF) has been mooted as a possible tool to classify dysphagia risk. We conducted a review of the literature to describe SSF in both the healthy population and in disease-specific populations, in order to consider its utility as a screening tool to identify dysphagia. We searched Medline, Embase, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases. Metadata were extracted, collated and analysed to give quantitative insight. Three hundred and twelve articles were retrieved, with 19 meeting inclusion and quality criteria. Heterogeneity between studies was high (I2 = 99%). Mean SSF in healthy younger sub-groups was 0.98/min [CI: 0.67; 1.42]. In the Parkinson's sub-group, mean SSF was 0.59/min [0.40; 0.87]. Mean SSF in healthy older, higher risk and dysphagic populations were similar (0.21/min [0.09; 0.52], 0.26/min [0.10; 0.72] and 0.30/min [0.16; 0.54], respectively). SSF is a novel, non-invasive clinical variable which warrants further exploration as to its potential to identify persons at risk of dysphagia. Larger, well-conducted studies are needed to develop objective, standardised methods for detecting SSF, and develop normative values in healthy populations.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:: Exercise and green tea supplementation have been shown to have the potential to improve postprandial blood glucose concentrations, but past interventions have not often investigated attainable and time effective exercise protocols. AIM:: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of interval walking exercise and acute green tea extract supplementation on the glycaemic response to an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). METHOD:: Twelve physically inactive participants (nine male, three female, age: 22 ± 1 years; body mass: 81.2 ± 16.3 kg; stature: 175.7 ± 9.6 cm; body mass index (in kg/m2): 26.2 ± 4.3) underwent a 2-h OGTT immediately following i) no intervention (REST), ii) placebo and exercise (EX-PLAC), iii) green tea extract supplementation and exercise (EX-GTE), in a random order. The walking exercise consisted of 6 × 1 min of brisk walking (7.92 ± 0.56 km/h) separated by 1 min of slower walking (4.8 km/h). Differences between groups were identified using magnitude-based inferences. RESULTS:: The EX-GTE intervention resulted in a â¼9% most likely beneficial effect on blood glucose area under the curve response to the OGTT (702.18 ± 76.90 mmol/L-1·120 min-1) compared with REST (775.30 ± 86.76 mmol/L-1·120 min-1), and a very likely beneficial effect compared with the EX-PLAC (772.04 ± 81.53 mmol/L-1·120 min-1). CONCLUSION:: These data suggest that an EX-GTE intervention can reduce postprandial glucose concentrations in physically inactive individuals.
