Contexte

Oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) is a pathology of the digestive system very common in various types of patients: between 38% and 78% of patients who have experienced a stroke, 18%–82% of patients with Parkinson's disease, 80% of patients with Alzheimer's disease, in addition to 55% of institutionalised elderly people, 47% of patients admitted to Acute Geriatric Units and 27% of seniors living in the community.
The risk of OD increases in old age, and it has a major impact on the functional capacity, health, and quality of life.
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With elderly patients with OD, the diet must be adapted to the patient's ingestion capacity, depending on the level of severity of their OD.
The market includes several nutritional products (nutritional supplements) especially designed to remedy malnutrion, one of the consequences of OD. The main problem with these products is  that they do not have the proper viscosity, which poses a risk of aspiration and respiratory complications. In addition, nutritional supplements are only sold in pharmacies, and are expensive for most senior citizens.
Other products have ideal viscosity and are usually more affordable and more widely available commercially (in supermarkets) but they do not provide an extra intake of calories and protein to help patients who also suffer from malnutrition.
The objective of this project is to develop a yoghurt-based product for elderly people with OD, which can be purchased in supermarkets at an affordable price and is adapted in 3 aspects: rheological (optimal viscosity), nutritional  and organoleptic.
These products could improve nutrition, and prevent aspirations and penetrations and therefore respiratory complications, thereby improving the health and quality of life of patients.