Nut Butter Paste for Dysphagia Dosing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional nutritional and pharmaceutical dosage forms, such as solid tablets and liquids, are inconvenient for dysphagic users and companion animals due to swallowing difficulties, portability issues, and inaccurate dosing, while nut butters are sticky and difficult to dose despite their potential as nutrient carriers.
Innovation Solution
A protein-rich supplement composition in the form of a nut butter-based paste that is spoonable, cuttable, shapeable, and spreadable, with a uniform distribution of health-promoting ingredients, achieved by combining nut butter with a shortening and lecithin, and optionally a health-promoting ingredient, resulting in a stable and palatable product with at least 15% protein content.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If liquid dosage forms are used, then swallowing is easier compared to solids, but portability is reduced and accurate dosing becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state parameter from liquid to semi-solid paste form. This modification maintains the swallowing ease of liquids while eliminating the dosing inaccuracies and portability issues associated with liquid forms. The paste consistency allows for precise spoonful dosing without requiring measuring instruments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite paste formulation by combining nut butter base with nutritional supplements and pharmaceutical ingredients. This composite structure provides the benefits of both the carrier (nut butter paste for ease of swallowing and dosing) and the active ingredients (uniformly distributed throughout the paste), resolving the contradiction between ease of administration and dosing precision.
2Ease of operation
If nut butters are used as nutrient carriers, then palatability and ease of consumption improve, but dosing accuracy and uniform distribution of ingredients deteriorate due to stickiness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the consistency parameter of nut butter by adjusting the ratio of natural peanut butter to creamy peanut butter (50:50 to 70:30 range). This parameter change reduces excessive stickiness while maintaining spoonability and spreadability, thereby enabling accurate dosing and uniform ingredient distribution without sacrificing ease of consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by ensuring uniform distribution of hydrophobic and hydrophilic ingredients throughout the paste matrix. The specific formulation creates regions of balanced composition that prevent ingredient separation and ensure each dose contains the correct amount of active ingredients, resolving the dosing precision issue while maintaining overall palatability.
3Ease of operation
If natural peanut butter is used, then palatability is high, but oil separation occurs reducing stability and uniform distribution
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a composite peanut butter system combining natural peanut butter (50-70 parts) with creamy peanut butter (30-50 parts). This composite structure leverages the natural peanut butter's palatability while the creamy component provides stability and prevents oil separation. The combination maintains a balanced composition that remains homogeneous during storage and use.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the compositional parameter by controlling the ratio of natural to creamy peanut butter and specifying particle size distribution (10-50 mesh). This parameter optimization prevents oil separation while preserving the desirable taste and texture of natural peanut butter, achieving both high palatability and composition stability.
4Quantity of substance
If protein content is increased in nutritional supplements, then nutritional value improves, but tablet or chew manufacturing becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical tablet compression or chewing processes with a paste-based delivery system. Nut butters naturally accommodate high protein content (15-50% of total weight) without requiring complex manufacturing equipment. The paste form factor eliminates the manufacturing difficulties associated with high-protein tablets or chews while maintaining ease of administration.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The protein-rich supplement composition is easily consumable, stable, and convenient for dosing, providing a uniform distribution of nutrients and pharmaceuticals, addressing the limitations of traditional dosage forms and nut butter consistency issues.
Implementation Method 1
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,671,267, 5,240,734, 6,703,064, 8,080,275, and 8,697,173 all concern with, to varying degrees, minimizing separation of peanut oil and particles in peanut butters as spreads
Implementation Method 2
combining nut butter with a shortening and lecithin, and optionally a health-promoting ingredient, resulting in a stable and palatable product
Data Source
AI summary
This invention provides a protein-rich supplement composition and process of manufacturing such composition that is cleanly spoonable, cuttable, shapeable, spreadable, protein-rich and with reduced stickiness. In some embodiments, the process to manufacture such composition includes weighing, combining, and heating a nut butter, a shortening with a melting point not less than 104° F., a long chain fatty acid with 16 to 18 carbon atoms, a lecithin, and optionally, a health-promoting ingredient. The finished product has more than 15% protein content, and in a 45°-angle cut-through test, the knife path will not collapse even after 24 hours.