Gastric emptying of varying meal weight and composition in man. Evaluation by dual liquid- and solid-phase isotopic method.

Ten subjects were given self-selected filling meals (mean weight = 1692 g) and meals of 900 and 300 g. The three meals varied in composition and total kcal. Solid and liquid phase gastric emptying was evaluated using 99mTc-sulfur colloid-labeled chicken liver and [111In]DTPA, and emptying was quantitated using the geometric mean of the anterior and posterior counts. Emptying of the solid-phase marker was linear; mean half-emptying times were 277 min, 146 min, and 77 min for the filling, 900-g, and 300-g meals, respectively. Emptying of the liquid-phase marker was curvilinear, mean half-emptying times were 178 min, 81 min, and 40 min, for the filling, 900-g, and 300-g meals, respectively. Thus, meals of larger weight and kcal content were associated with longer emptying times for both solids and liquids.