In vitro evaluation of masticatory function test kit using glucose containing gummy jelly

Background and aim: As a masticatory ability test method that can be easily and effectively evaluated, there was a method of chewing a glucose containing gummy jelly for a certain period of time and measuring the amount of eluted glucose. Recently, it had been developed the masticatory function test kit, that it was consisted of glucose containing gummy jelly, and a dedicated glucose concentration measuring device. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of masticatory ability test using glucose containing gummy jelly from in vitro glucose elution test. Methods: Glucose containing gummy jelly (product name “Glucolumn”, GC) were cut into 8, 32 and 64 pieces, and each divided gummy pieces were immersed in 10 mL of distilled water and stirred with a stirrer for 20, 40 and 60 seconds. The amount of eluted glucose was measured by the dedicated glucose concentration measuring device (product name “Gluco Sensor GS-II”, GC). As a control, the amount of glucose from undivided gummy jelly also measured in the same manner (number of samples N=5). The results were analyzed by Tukey method. Results: The amount of eluted glucose from glucose containing gummy jelly became higher as the number of divided pieces were more increased, that was as the surface area was larger, and the stirring time was longer. In the comparison of the divided amount after 60 seconds, the results were non-divided 30±3, 8 divided 81±3, 32 divided 143±8, and 64 divided 153±4 mg/dL. Conclusions: It was shown that the amount of glucose dissolved from glucose containing gummy jelly increased as the amount of the number of divided pieces was more increased and the stirring time was longer. Therefore, it was suggested that the higher the masticatory ability and the better the gummy jelly chewing, the higher the measured glucose concentration.