Distinctions among three sugars in their effects on gastric emptying and satiety

We have studied in Macaca mulatta both the gastric emptying of glucose, D-xylose, and fructose and the effects of these sugars on feeding. Glucose and D-xylose empty in the same fashion, i.e., linearly and more slowly with increasing concentration so that the delivery of solute to the small intestine is constant at 0.1 g/min over time and across concentrations. Fructose empties exponentially and more rapidly than the other sugars. When solutions of each of these sugars (37.5 g in 150 ml) preceded the monkey's daily 4-h feeding period there was a similar total reduction in food intake for each. However, fructose inhibited food intake in the first 2 h of feeding less than did the other sugars just as it inhibited gastric emptying less. D-Xylose, although mimicking glucose in both gastric emptying and feeding on the experimental day, produced, as it is poorly metabolized, a caloric deficit replaced by overeating on the subsequent control day. We conclude from the similarities between glucose and xylose that the stomach, while emptying nutrients, influences feeding and can be at least one source of signals for preabsorptive satiety and caloric homeostasis. The results with fructose require that other sites must be active to permit a similar regulation of feeding to occur despite differing gastric emptying characteristics.