来自University of Technology Sydney（UTS）和迪金大学in Australia, have used 3D printing to create meals that are designed to be tastier and safer to eat for people with swallowing disorders (dysphagia).
Using pureed food as ‘ink,’ the research team 3D printed foods in a way that would make them more visibly appealing, and safer to eat for those with dysphagia. Given that many social activities are based around eating out, the researchers suggested that the advantages of the 3D printing technique could go beyond simply adding nutritional value.
“吞咽疾病的人通常会面临窒息食物的危险，这可能是致命的。So to make food easier to eat, some people need it to be soft, or even pureed, at which point the look and feel of the food can change, affecting the person’s appetite and quality of life,” said speech pathologist researcher Professor Bronwyn Hemsley.
“If it [3D printed food] is going to print in any shape, they could go to a Christmas party or a birthday party and still be part of the special occasion. They could still eat things that look like cake, nuts or biscuits, but are made of a puree texture”, she said.
3D printed food and swallowing disorders
Approximately eight percent of Australians (two million people), suffer from dysphagia associated with stroke, Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease or dementia, according to Professor Hemsley. The disorder can have severe repercussions, potentially leading to aspiration pneumonia, malnutrition or even choking. Swallowing disorders are often managed by those that suffer from them by adopting modified diets, but these can be unappetizing, and affect their quality of life.
3D printing has been utilized in the past to combat dysphagia, with German food innovations companyBiozoonlaunching its3D printed food extruderin 2014. Nonetheless, according to the Australian researchers, continued development is necessary to develop a wider range of 3D printed natural and nutritious foods, including those containing proteins and fats. In addition, there remains a need to devise a large-scale method of 3D printing foodstuffs, that can be individually-tailored for people with special nutritional requirements.
For 3D printed food to be adopted on a larger scale, the researchers identified that a more systematic approach was needed, and set out to identify the problems and solutions around providing foods for people with specific dietary needs. Having cross-referenced studies between 2012 and 2017 regarding this application of 3D printed foods, the research team found no scientific evidence that these meals provided improved nutritional value. As a result, the Australian researchers’ goal of creating 3D printed food with greater nutrition remained an aspirational one, and they launched a review of all related 3D printing studies.
同行评审的添加剂研究
Having analysed existing studies, the Australian team found that initial research went into making 3D printed food more appealing, producing chocolates, sugars and cookies. Consequently the design and creation of a range of nutritious food continues to be problematic, with some commercially-available products maintaining this approach. In order to change this, and produce healthier meals, the researchers cited a report by theUniversity of Queenslandin 2016. The study identified foods produced using liquid-based deposition techniques as being better suited to producing foods with a high nutritional value. While this approach yielded moderate successes, high molecular weight polymeric carbohydrates still proved difficult to print without modification.
In order to make 3D printed food appear more appealing than conventional food substitutes, another study byKansas State University使用食物模具将食物塑造成更开胃的形状。但是，这项研究的结果对这些模制餐的反映不佳，许多老年试验者发现他们更难以吞噬。尽管如此，澳大利亚科学家们坚持认为，没有记录在护理院中使用的3D印刷食品的研究，并着手将营养的“软食物”用于与老年人的应用。
The Australian researchers’ findings
研究人员使用在UTS的Protopsace Lab上安装的3D食品打印机，将真正的泥食品用作墨水，在印刷过程开始之前，将压缩餐完全煮熟。然后将3D打印机的墨盒填充在液化的食物中，然后将其印刷成预先编程的3D形状。据Hemsley教授说，该技术的社会影响可能与营养益处一样重要。
“据我们所知，到目前为止，这是一项创造性和有趣的活动。人们常常会感到惊讶，并为自己的工作表达快乐。但是，如果这种形状不如他们预期的好，或者看起来比熟悉的食物还糟，也可能会感到失望。” Hemsley说。
“We don’t know yet whether people with swallowing disabilities would want to take part in 3D food printing, the support they’d need, whether they’d use it, and what benefits they expect. We need to know this, and also to find ways that we can make 3D printing more accessible to more people, if it’s going to help to improve their lives,” she said.
The researchers concluded that further observational studies were needed, in order to ascertain what the remaining barriers to the widespread adoption of the technology by the elderly could be. Moreover, greater control needed to be put in the hands of consumers during these projects, to better optimize 3D printed foods for use in residential settings. According to the research team, consumer-friendly 3D printers, with pre-set CAD files for meals with specific visual appearances, could be the future of the technology, but only with a renewed user-focus.
食品行业的3D打印
A number of 3D printing companies have scaled up their preparation for the mass manufacturing of food products in recent years.
Israeli food 3D printing start-up,重新定义肉raised $6 million in a seed funding round, to advance the development of its选择来说ive-meat 3D printerin November 2019. The company’s goal was not simply to create a new food product, but to design a novel production process.
Campden BRI, a food and drink research organization based in the UK, conducted a study检查3D打印技术的功能with various types of food material in April 2019. The company aimed to develop its own 3D printing capabilities based on the analysis.
Scientists from哥伦比亚大学developed anew method to 3D print cooked foodin April 2019. The 3D printing method was unique because it could combine different ingredients, such as chicken with dough, and cook each ingredient selectively.
The researchers’ findings are detailed in their paper titled “Review Informing the Design of 3D Food Printing for People with Swallowing Disorders: Constructive, Conceptual, and Empirical Problems”。The study was co-authored by Bronwyn Hemsley, Stuart Palmer, Abbas Kouzani, Scott Adams and Susan Balandin.
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Featured image shows the experimental meals being prepared at UTS’ Protospace Lab. Photo via UTS.
