Video-endoscopic comparison of swallowing waxy rice mochi and waxy wheat mochi: improvement of a traditional Japanese food that presents a choking hazard.

Mochi is highly cohesive and adhesive, and easy to choke on. Many of the fatal suffocation accidents with mochi occur in the elderly aged 65 years or older. These circumstances prompted us to investigate a special property of waxy wheat which is similar in texture to waxy rice, but is less cohesive and adhesive.