Scientists have established how many times healthy people should be able to swallow in 30 seconds — and those who can’t could have a deadly condition.
Struggling to swallow, medically known as dysphagia, can be a sign of conditions such as cancer, serious lung disease or dementia.
One of the techniques medics use to establish if a patient has dysphagia is called the Repetitive Saliva Swallow Test.
During this simple test, which can be performed at home, a patient attempts to swallow — without consuming any food or drink — as many times as possible in half a minute.
Now, in the largest study of its kind to date, Israeli medics have established the base number of swallows healthy patients of different age groups should be able to achieve.
They found adults aged 20 to 39 should be able to swallow, on average, almost 8.5 times in 30 seconds.
Patients in their 40s should be able to swallow eight times, while those in their 50s should manage to perform about seven swallows.
Once patients reach their 60s, they should be just under seven swallows (6.7) and those in their 70s should be managing six.
Struggling to swallow is medically known dysphagia, and can be a sign of conditions such as cancer , serious lung disease or dementia
Finally, patients in their 80s should be able to perform just over four swallows (4.3) in the time limit.
Patients who don’t manage to achieve the relevant healthy swallowing goal for their age group can then be flagged for further investigation to explore serious health problems that can cause dysphagia — including lung disease and some cancers.
Writing in the journal Dysphagia, the researchers said their study was important as it showed a much higher range of what should be considered healthy compared to previous studies.
They highlighted that a previously established baseline for the Repetitive Saliva Swallow Test had set the number of healthy swallows for all adults as low as three.
‘This finding reinforces the necessity for a more comprehensive exploration of the validity of the established cutoff values within the oldest old age group,’ they wrote.
Researchers added that the significant variation in test scores by age could be due to the physiological changes that occur in throat muscles as people grow older.
They added that differences were also seen between men and women, with the former, on average, achieving more swallows (7.6) than the latter (6.5), another factor that could impact test results.
The experts said the reasons for this sex-based difference in swallowing speed needed further research.
In the largest study of its kind to date, Israeli medics have established the base number of swallows healthy patients of different age groups should be able to achieve
As pictured above, having no energy, unintentionally losing weight, constant indigestion, difficulty swallowing, feeling sick and a lump at the top of your tummy are all warning signs and symptoms of stomach cancer
Dysphagia is usually not a condition by itself but a symptom of another medical issue.
The NHS states these can range from overall mild problems like acid reflux to cancer of the mouth or the oesophagus — the tube that carries food and drink to the stomach — as well as conditions dementia or lung disease.
Just last month a mother of four revealed the earliest sign of her terminal stomach cancer had been problems swallowing which she initially dismissed as a complication of her weight loss diet.
Problems swallowing can also be a sign of throat cancer, the disease that killed Hollywood star Val Kilmer — famed for iconic roles in Top Gun, Batman and The Doors earlier this week.
While the authors said their study was the largest experiment of its kind, they acknowledged it had several limitations.
Firstly, while participants had their health assessed before recruitment, no diagnostic tests were performed, meaning people with undiagnosed health conditions could potentially have been included.
Another limitation was that participants were only tested once, and no record was made on wheter they had consumed any food or drink prior to the test which could influence the results.
