Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Communication
  • Published:

Comparison of gastric emptying of a solid and a liquid nutritional rehabilitation food

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 55, pages 769–772 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective: To compare gastric emptying of a solid and a liquid nutritional rehabilitation food.

Design: Cross-over trial. Eight volunteers took, in random order at least 1 week apart, 2100 kJ of a solid and a liquid nutritional rehabilitation food with added labelled [13C] glycine.

Setting: Research ward for healthy volunteers.

Subjects: Eight healthy volunteers.

Methods: Appearance of 13CO2 was monitored in expired gas every 15 min for 240 min after meal intake and compared between solid and liquid meals. Parameters of gastric emptying were then calculated.

Results: Gastric half-emptying time was slightly longer for solid meal compared to liquid meal (101±6.0 vs 88±9.8 min, P=0.24). 13CO2 excretion peaked 138±5.3 min after the solid meal compared with 119±8.6 min with liquid meal (P=0.06). 13CO2 excretion was higher for the liquid food up to 110 min after the meal but then became higher for the solid food. Analysis of variance for repeated measures of 13CO2 excretion showed a significant interaction term between the type of food and time indicating a delayed elimination of 13CO2 for the solid food (P=0.018).

Conclusions: Attempts to replace liquid nutritional rehabilitation foods by a solid food in malnourished patients should take into account a possible slower gastric emptying.

Sponsorship: Supported by a grant from Nutriset (Malaunay, France) and ANVAR (Agence Nationale de la Valorisation de la Recherche, contract no. A9703021P).

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2001) 55, 769–772

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ashworth A (1974) Ad lib. feeding during recovery from malnutrition Br. J. Nutr. 31 109–112

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ashworth A & Khanum S (1997) Cost-effective treatment for severely malnourished children: what is the best approach? Health Pol. Plann. 12 115–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boirie Y, Dangin M, Gachon P, Vasson MP, Maubois JL & Beaufrère B (1997) Slow and fast dietary proteins differently modulate postprandial protein accretion Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94 14930–14935

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Briend A, Lacsala R, Prudhon C, Mounier B, Grellety Y & Golden MHN (1999) Ready-to-use therapeutic food for treatment of marasmus Lancet 353 1767–1768

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brooke OG & Wheeler EF (1976) High energy feeding in protein-energy malnutrition Arch. Dis. Child. 51 968–971

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doran S, Jones KL, Andrews JM & Horowitz M (1988) Effects of meal volume and posture on gastric emptying of solids and appetite Am. J. Physiol. 275 R1712–R1718

    Google Scholar 

  • Franco VH, Collares EF & Troncon LE (1985) Gastric emptying in children. III. Study on marasmic protein-calorie malnutrition. Arq. Gastroenterol. 22 88–92

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guilluy R, Billion-Rey F & Brazier JL (1991) On-line measurements of 13C enrichments in rat breath. Non-invasive method for in vivo study of drug enzymatic induction. J. Chromatogr. 562 341–350

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Haycock G, Schwartz G & Wisotsky D (1978) Geometric method for measuring body surface area: a height–weight formula validated in infants children and adults J. Pediatr. 93 62–66

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maes BD, Ghoos YF, Geypens BJ, Mys G, Hiele MI, Rutgeerts PJ & Vantrappen G (1994) Combined carbon-13-glycine/carbon-14octanoic acid breath test to monitor gastric emptying rates of liquids and solids J. Nucl. Med. 35 824–831

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marciani L, Gowland PA, Spiller RC, Manoj P, Moore RJ, Young P, Al-Sahab S, Bush D, Wright J & Fillery-Travis AJ (2000) Gastric response to increased meal viscosity assessed by echo-planar magnetic resonance imaging in humans J. Nutr. 130 122–127

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Normand S, Pachiaudi C, Khalfallah Y, Guilluy R, Mornex R & Riou JP (1992) 13C appearance in plasma glucose and breath CO2 during feeding with naturally 13C-enriched starchy food in normal humans Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 55 430–435

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Peuhkuri K, Vapaatalo H, Nevala R & Korpela R (1999) Influence of the pharmacological modification of gastric emptying on lactose digestion and gastrointestinal symptoms Aliment. Pharmacol. Ther. 13 81–86

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rigaud D, Bedig G, Merrouche M, Vulpillat M, Bonfils S & Apfelbaum M (1988) Delayed gastric emptying in anorexia nervosa in improved by completion of a renutrition program Dig. Dis. Sci. 33 919–925

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vesa TH, Marteau PR, Briet FB, Flourie B, Briend A & Rambaud JC (1997) Effects of milk viscosity on gastric emptying and lactose intolerance in lactose maldigesters Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 66 123–126

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Waterlow JC (1961) The rate of recovery of malnourished infants in relation to the calorie and protein levels of the diet J. Trop. Pediatr. 7 16–22

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization (1999) Management of severe malnutrition a manual for physicians and other senior health workers Geneva: WHO

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Mrs Franchisseur and Mrs Maurel for their help and support during the study.

Author information

Author notes

  1. A Briend: Guarantor: A Briend.

  2. L Achour, S Méance and A Briend: Contributors: All investigators were involved in the design, conduct and writing of the study. CA and SM measured 13CO2 excretion by mass spectrometry. AB initiated the project and carried out the data analysis

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département des Sciences Biologiques, Faculté des Sciences, Monastir, Tunisia

    L Achour

  2. Institut Scientifique et Technique de la Nutrition et de l'Alimentation, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France

    S Méance & A Briend

  3. Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Paris, France

    A Briend

Authors
  1. L Achour
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S Méance
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A Briend
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A Briend.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Achour, L., Méance, S. & Briend, A. Comparison of gastric emptying of a solid and a liquid nutritional rehabilitation food. Eur J Clin Nutr 55, 769–772 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601221

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601221

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links