“When we talk to patients and family members about potential interventions for dysphagia, we must be honest with the fact that we don’t have very strong evidence that it will prolong their lives, although we may have some evidence that it will decrease aspirations,” he says.
Eric Widera, the doctor who created the challenge, says the overall benefits of thick water are “at best an educated guess.” was getting thickened liquids as a means to maintain hydration, the doctors behind the #ThickWaterChallenge hoped that if nurses and doctors actually tried thick water themselves, they’d be less likely to prescribe it.ĭr. Pointing to a survey in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association that found one in 12 nursing home residents in the U.S. With that in mind, it’s no wonder a number of doctors who specialize in geriatrics and palliative care tried to start a viral “ #ThickWaterChallenge” to bring attention to thick water being overprescribed. Patients with dysphagia are actually better off receiving their fluids from fluid-dense foods rather than thickened water. Drinking it just flat-out isn’t a very good experience, which is why an increasing amount of experts who deal with dysphagia are pushing back against the assumption that thick water is, as my bottle proudly displays at the top, a “dysphagia nutrition solution.”Īccording to research, however, it’s not much of a solution. I can imagine what it’s like to depend on thickened water.
So I decided it was up to me to make thick water a thing. But, as someone who’s generally pretty good at finding people who like weird things, I couldn’t find a single instance of a cis-abled person preferring thick water over normal water. There must be a few fitness geeks who prefer thick water over boring, regular water, I thought. Maybe it’s time to normalize thickened drinks for those who have trouble with the real thing. That got me thinking: Maybe, for runners like me, the ability to snack on fluids would be an exceptional undiscovered hydration life hack. In theory, then, thickening those liquids allows those people to better consume their favorite liquids without choking, so they can stay nice and hydrated. Being unable to properly swallow liquids can lead to pneumonia, choking and several other very serious complications. This might be due to the physical makeup of the esophagus, a neurological problem or simply getting old. Technically, thick water is intended to help people who have trouble swallowing - often called dysphagia. Before getting into what thick water tastes like, you might be wondering what exactly it is and why it exists.
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