Effects of yogurt as a deglutition aid on disintegration and dissolution of oral tablets.

Patients with dysphagia have difficulty swallowing oral medications. Swallowing aid foods, such as deglutition aid jellies and food thickeners, are often used to help such patients take oral medications. Yogurt is occasionally used to help swallow medications. It is also advantageous as it is nutritious and easy to swallow. However, the influence of yogurt on the pharmacokinetics of oral medications is poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to evaluate yogurt as a potential swallowing aid for the intake of oral tablets, by comparing the physical properties and effects of yogurt on disintegration and dissolution profiles of various oral tablets with deglutition aid jelly and xanthan gum-based food thickener. Yogurt and the food thickener were found to extend the disintegration time of several tablets; however, this increase was unremarkable. Although dissolution of magnesium oxide tablets decreased by 6%, 14%, and 25% after immersion in deglutition aid jelly, food thickener, and yogurt, respectively, at 15 min, this impact on dissolution reduced over time (dissolution rates of all samples at 120 min were over 90%). Rheological measurements showed that yogurt and food thickeners have a weak gel structure and therefore have better fluidity than deglutition aid jelly. The adhesiveness and dynamic viscosity of yogurt were higher than those of the food thickener, which delayed tablet disintegration and reduced the dissolution rate. However, these effects were not substantial. We can thus conclude that yogurt may be a useful swallowing aid for patients with deglutition disorders who take oral medications.

Comparison of the effects on tablet disintegration of solvents used to dissolve food thickeners.

Food thickening agents help patients with dysphagia to eat, drink, and take medications. Taking medications with food thickeners has been reported to cause problems such as reduction of pharmacological effects through the delayed disintegration or non-disintegration of tablets. We previously reported that long immersion periods in food thickeners causes delayed disintegration and non-disintegration, while an immersion time of 1 min prevents these problems. However, in many studies including ours, water was used as the solvent, and patients with dysphagia use various drinks as food thickener solvents. Therefore, in this study, we examined the effects on tablet disintegration of food thickeners dissolved in 12 solvents. The line spread test (LST) and pH of the food thickeners differed among solvents, whereas the disintegration times of tablets immersed in food thickeners for 1 min were similar. Magnesium oxide tablets immersed in food thickeners for 30 min experienced delayed disintegration or non-disintegration in all solvents. These results suggested that the effects of solvents on the disintegration of medications hardly differ. Therefore, patients taking medications with food thickeners may refer to reports in which water was used as the solvent, regardless of their drink of choice.