Background: Unexplained nausea and vomiting is often associated with delayed gastric emptying in patients with functional dyspepsia. We hypothesized that the experience of an unpleasant, nauseating taste could lead to a delay in gastric emptying.
Methods: Sixteen healthy women consumed a bland liquid test meal on three separate study days. On two of the study days subjects sham fed either a bitter tasting, modified Slim-Fast bar or one with a pleasant strawberry flavour. The time for 50% gastric emptying (GE50) was non-invasively assessed by electrical impedance tomography and antral motility by electrogastrography (EGG).
Results: Gastric emptying was significantly delayed by sham feeding the bitter compared with the pleasant bar, GE50 24.7±3.9 versus 17.2±1.8 min, P<0.05. EGG power rose significantly during both the pleasant (basal 1.46±0.07 to 2.33±0.14 log10 μV2/min, P=0.000) and the bitter sham feed (basal 1.64±0.09 to 2.35±0.11 log10 μV2/min, P=0.000).
Conclusion: An unpleasant bitter taste delays gastric emptying but does not significantly impair antral motility.