The scientist who wants to heal through food

In a six-part series, The Sunday Times profiles people who have made an impact in various fields by trusting their instincts and keeping faith in their skills. In this fourth instalment, features editor Wong Kim Hoh speaks to Dr Shen Yiru, who founded The Gentle Group, a social enterprise which specialises in pureed meals and care services for those with swallowing difficulties.

It was a dream inspired by her late maternal grandmother, who struggled with dementia before her death more than 20 years ago. The illness stole her memory and cognitive abilities, and also left her with swallowing difficulties. “We want to bring life back through eating, we want to help patients recover through food,” Dr Shen says.

“Food is comforting and brings people together. But in hospitals, people often don’t touch their food. Meal times are supposed to be happy times. If you are sick and you don’t eat well, you don’t recover,” says Dr Shen, adding that her grandmother’s dysphagia prompted her to read and do a lot of research on the subject.

There was another reason why she believed she was on the right track: the International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative framework that was published in 2017. This standardised the terminology used to describe food textures and drink thickness: Drinks fall between Levels 0 and 4 for runny to thick liquids, while foods range from Levels 3 to 7 .

Their initial offerings were limited to just a few items such as fish curry and chicken rice, packed in bento boxes that they publicised and sold on their e-commerce platform. Then – “whether lucky or unlucky” – Covid-19 happened. The lockdown brought their B2B operations to a halt. For public health science doctorate student Siti Hazirah Mohamad, 36, GentleFoods has been a godsend.

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