Infants should sit upright while being fed and be supervised at all times to avoid the risk of choking. Teach your children to eat their food slowly and to chew before swallowing. You can cut your children's food into smaller, bite-size pieces, especially if you have very young children. 

"There is this significant number of children who have to go to the ER because they choked on food," said Dr. Rodney Baker, director of the ER at Miami Children's Hospital. Baker points out that preventing choking in children is as simple as increasing training and awareness. Of course, this isn't just a problem for the young. 

Older adults also may be at greater risk. As people age, they should drink more fluids and eat at a slower pace. A study published in September 2013 in the journal Injury Prevention found that 2,214 people older than 65 died in the U.S. between 2007 and 2010 from choking. 

Conditions most strongly associated with deaths from choking on food were: 

• Parkinson's disease;
• dementia; and
• pneumonitis (lung tissue inflammation).