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Aim:  Much of the controversy surrounding the correlation between obesity and gastric emptying lies in the inconsistency of methodology and analysis. This study was designed to overcome some of the discrepancies encountered in previous studies and to test the hypothesis that obese individuals have altered gastric emptying compared to lean individuals.

Methods:  Gastric emptying was measured using the ¹³C‐octanoic acid breath test in 16 lean and 16 obese women pair‐matched for age. Following an overnight fast, subjects were given a standard 2 MJ egg meal labelled with 100 µl of [1‐¹³C]‐octanoic acid. Breath samples were collected at regular intervals over a 6‐h period. ¹³C‐isotopic enrichment in the breath was analysed using isotope ratio mass spectrometry and the data fitted to the established gastric emptying model. The lag times (t_lag), half excretion times (t_1/2), latency phase (t_lat) and …