Intragastric pressure during food intake: a physiological and minimally invasive method to assess gastric accommodation

Background The stomach relaxes upon food intake and thereby provides a reservoir while keeping the intragastric pressure (IGP) low. We set out to determine whether we could use IGP as a measurement for stomach accommodation during food intake. Methods In fasted healthy volunteers (n = 7–17) a manometer and an infusion catheter were positioned in the proximal stomach. After a stabilization period a nutrient drink was intragastrically infused at 15, 30 and 60 mL min−1. To investigate the effect of impaired accommodation the effect of NG‐monomethyl‐l‐arginine (L‐NMMA) was examined. The volunteers scored satiation until maximum, when the experiment ended. The IGP was presented as a change from baseline (mean ± SEM) and compared with repeated measures anova. Key Results Independent on the ingestion speed, the IGP decreased initially and gradually increased thereafter. Volunteers scored maximal satiation after 699 ± 62, 809 ± 90 and 997 ± 120 mL nutrient drink infused (15, 30 and 60 mL min−1 respectively; P