The gastrointestinal response of children to testmeals of barium and pasteurized, evaporated, and base-exchanged milks

Abstract

To determine the relation of gastrointestinal motility to milks of different curd tension, seven healthy children, aged 7 to 11 years, each of whom had been observed previously in an acid-base mineral balance study covering 225 successive days, and whose gastrointestinal motility patterns were known, served as subjects of serial roentgenographic studies upon the orderly passage through the alimentary tract of test meals composed of 2 ounces of barium sulfate and 4 ounces of pasteurized milk, evaporated milk diluted 1:1 with water, and base-exchanged milk. Roentgen examinations were made at frequent intervals until the meal had passed out of the stomach and at twenty-four-, forty-eight-, and seventy-two-hour intervals after its ingestion, a total of 181 exposures. The average gastric emptying times for the seven children were 227,214, 193 minutes, respectively, for pasteurized, evaporated (diluted 1:1), and base-exchanged milks. The roentgenograms taken ten minutes after ingestion indicated that the soft curd milks (evaporated and base-exchanged) began emptying from the stomach in much less time than the pasteurized milks: in nine instances the soft curd milk had reached the duodenum and in four of these had entered the jejunum after ten minutes, while in only one exposure at the 10-minute interval had the pasteurized milk meal left the stomach. The fluffier, more evently dispersed masses formed by the processedmilks, presenting greater surface areas to the digestive juices in the small intestine, and the more orderly progression of these soft curd milks throughout the alimentary canal, are in accord with results of metabolic and clinical observations upon the nutritive advantages of different milks. To determine the relation of gastrointestinal motility to milks of different curd tension, seven healthy children, aged 7 to 11 years, each of whom had been observed previously in an acid-base mineral balance study covering 225 successive days, and whose gastrointestinal motility patterns were known, served as subjects of serial roentgenographic studies upon the orderly passage through the alimentary tract of test meals composed of 2 ounces of barium sulfate and 4 ounces of pasteurized milk, evaporated milk diluted 1:1 with water, and base-exchanged milk. Roentgen examinations were made at frequent intervals until the meal had passed out of the stomach and at twenty-four-, forty-eight-, and seventy-two-hour intervals after its ingestion, a total of 181 exposures. The average gastric emptying times for the seven children were 227,214, 193 minutes, respectively, for pasteurized, evaporated (diluted 1:1), and base-exchanged milks. The roentgenograms taken ten minutes after ingestion indicated that the soft curd milks (evaporated and base-exchanged) began emptying from the stomach in much less time than the pasteurized milks: in nine instances the soft curd milk had reached the duodenum and in four of these had entered the jejunum after ten minutes, while in only one exposure at the 10-minute interval had the pasteurized milk meal left the stomach. The fluffier, more evently dispersed masses formed by the processedmilks, presenting greater surface areas to the digestive juices in the small intestine, and the more orderly progression of these soft curd milks throughout the alimentary canal, are in accord with results of metabolic and clinical observations upon the nutritive advantages of different milks.