AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 250, Issue 4 549-R552, Copyright © 1986 by American Physiological Society
Extra-abdominal pressure alters food intake, intragastric pressure, and gastric emptying rate
A. Geliebter, S. Westreich, R. N. Pierson Jr and T. B. Van Itallie
Compression of the animal stomach gives rise to vagal discharges that could
signal satiety. To test a noninvasive method of inducing compression of the
human stomach, we first employed extra-abdominal pressure levels of 0, 10,
and 20 Torr, counterbalanced for sequence, in six lean and obese subjects.
A large blood pressure cuff was wrapped around the abdomen of the subject
with the air bladder over the epigastrium. The bladder was inflated before
ingestion of a liquid meal by the subject until satiated. Relative to 0
Torr, pressures of 10 and 20 Torr significantly reduced spontaneous food
intake (P less than 0.03) without producing discomfort. In a second study,
extra-abdominal pressure of 20 Torr also raised intragastric pressure by a
mean of 5.5 Torr (P less than 0.03). In a third study, extra-abdominal
pressure of 20 Torr did not alter gastric emptying rate during meal
ingestion but ultimately enhanced emptying rate when this pressure was
maintained for greater than 100 min after meal completion (P less than
0.01).
