Most reported studies of gastric emptying in humans have been concerned primarily with the regulation of pyloric passage of a single-phase meal. However, Wiggins and Dawson (1961) sampled intestinal contents in man after ingestion of a mixed meal, and found that the proportions of fat and water recovered were different from those of the meal. Harkins, Longenecker, and Sarett (1964) observed in rats that the fat and water phases do not leave the stomach in parallel, fat being retained longer. The present study was conducted in an attempt to elucidate some of the mechanisms involved in this phenomenon and to investigate the effect of fat on the gastric emptying rate of the water phase of a mixed meal. CLINICAL METHODSTen healthy, asymptomatic human volunteers between the ages of 18 and 26 years were studied; three were females and seven were males. They fasted overnight and the experiments were carried out in the morning between 8.45 and 10 the next day. Seven experiments were performed on separate days in each case, five with different test meals and two in different body positions. Three of the test meals (I, II, and III) contained only the water phase but were of different volumes. Two were mixed meals (IV and V) and contained different volumes of fat. Test meal IV was given three times: with the subject sitting, and in the right and left lateral recumbent position.The five meals administered to each subject were as follows: I, 250 ml water phase only; II, 300 ml water phase only; III, 350 ml water phase only; IV, 250 ml water phase mixed with 50 ml olive oil; and V, 250 ml water phase mixed with 100 ml olive oil. The water

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