Camel's milk and gastric emptying

Background & aim: Gastric emptying is determined by food consistency, pH, osmolality, lipid and calorie content as well as the presence of different nutrients in the duodenal lumen. Control of gastric emptying is essential for ensuring optimal digestion. The present study tested the hypothesis that due to its different precipitation properties, gastric emptying of camel's milk may be quicker than that of bovine's milk with the same caloric and fat content. Methods: Gastric emptying was studied by a scintigraphic technique in a randomized, double blind fashion in 8 volunteers after drinking 450 mL of either cow's milk or camel's milk. Results: No differences in gastric emptying rates were found between the two types of milk. The percentage of retention of the meat after 60 min was 74.6 +/- 13.2% for cow's milk and 79.8 +/- 10.8% for camel's milk. The 50% emptying time (T-1/2) was 131.8 +/- 37.4 min for cow's milk and 136.8 +/- 55.8 min for camel's milk. Conclusions: Camel's milk is most probably not a useful substitute for other types of milk to shorten gastric emptying. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.