Journal of Nursing and Health Studies

Effects of taste and olfactory stimulus on glucose kinetics in normal healthy subjects

6^th International Conference on Advance Nursing Practice
June 21-22, 2018 Paris, France

Yoshiko Hasebe

Nayoro City University, Japan

ScientificTracks Abstracts: J Nurs Health Stud

DOI: 10.21767/2574-2825-C3-008

Abstract

It is known that the nutritional status of patients who receive nutrition via enteral feeding or other infusions, in which there are no taste sensations, tend not to improve even with high-calorie nutrients. Findings from recent experimental studies using animal models of intragastric tube feeding have suggested that a lack of taste and olfactory information may delay glucose metabolism after food intake. We hypothesized that concurrent taste stimuli in patients receiving infusions or enteral nutrition without oral ingestion would improve nutrient absorption, and in this study examine the effects of taste stimuli experimentally. The study is a randomized, controlled, cross-over trial. During the intervention period, subjects eat milk chocolate, and during the control period they swallow capsules filled with milk chocolate. This was done to investigate the effects of chocolate’s pleasing taste and smell. Blood glucose levels were measured continuously. A preliminary trial showed that blood glucose did not rise with the chocolate-filled capsules as much as when chocolate was eaten normally, and the change was slower. The experiments are currently underway, and detailed results will be reported at the conference. Limitations to this study are that it is a basic study with healthy subjects rather than a clinical study with patients as subjects, and that it is not an animal study in which precise data are obtained. If it is shown that the absorption of nutrients from enteral or intravenous nutrition is promoted by concurrent taste and olfactory stimuli, such findings would be applicable in various nursing settings, such as in caring for cerebrovascular patients and chemotherapy patients.
 

Biography

Yoshiko Hasebe has been working at Nayoro City University School of Health Science. She is a professor of Adult Nursing, and has her expertise in evaluation and passion in improving the nursing practice. She has published many textbooks and DVDs about nursing arts in Japan.
Email:yhasebe@nayoro.ac.jp