Is there a role for gastric accommodation and satiety in asymptomatic obese people?

Objective: The relationships of gastric accommodation and satiety in modera tely obese individuals are unclear. We hypothesized that obese people had i ncreased gastric accommodation and reduced postprandial satiety. The object ive of this study was to compare gastric accommodation and satiety between obese and non-obese asymptomatic subjects. Research Methods and Procedures: In 13 obese (body mass index [BMI] greater than or equal to 30 kg/m(2); mean BMI, 37.0 +/-4.9 kg/m(2)) and 19 non-obe se control subjects (BMI < 30 kg/m(2); mean BMI, 26.2 +/-2.9 kg/m(2)), we u sed single photon emission computed tomography to measure fasting and postp randial gastric volumes and expressed the accommodation response as the rat io of postprandial/fasting volumes. The satiety test measured maximum toler able volume of ingestion of liquid nutrient meal (Ensure) and symptoms 30 m inutes after cessation of ingestion. Results: Total fasting and postprandial. gastric volumes and the ratio of p ostprandial/fasting gastric volume were not different between asymptomatic obese and control subjects. However, the fasting volume of the distal stoma ch was greater in obese than in control subjects. Maximum tolerable volume of ingested Ensure and aggregate symptom score 30 minutes later were also n ot different between obese and control subjects. Discussion: Asymptomatic obese individuals (within the BMI range of 32.6 to 48 kg/m(2)) did not show either increased postprandial gastric accommodati on or reduced satiety. These data suggest that gastric accommodation is unl ikely to provide an important contribution to development of moderate obesi ty.