Gastric secretory and humoral responses to anticipated feeding in five men

It is believed that humans anticipate appetizing meals by increasing vagally mediated gastric acid secretion. Studies were conducted on 5 normal male volunteers to characterize further the secretory response to anticipated meals. Plasma gastrin and glucose levels were monitored to assess the possibility that these humoral factors participated in the observed secretory changes. Subjects were not fed for 22 hr and were intubated at 10 AM. Basal gastric collections were begun, and at 1 PM on different days, subjects either (a) selected meals of choice prepared in their presence for 1 hr before nasogastric tube withdrawal and meal ingestion or (b) were not food-teased or fed. Gastric collections were obtained every 10 min during the "test" hour (1-2 PM) during both (a) and (b) studies and titrated for gastric acid. Blood samples for plasma glucose and RIA gastrin were obtained during basal and test hours every 10 min. Pentagastrin-stimulated maximal acid output studies were conducted on all subjects on separate days. Results showed a progressive and statistically significant rise in gastric acid secretion when an appetizing, self-selected meal was anticipated. The magnitude of this rise was 55% of the mean pentagastrin-induced acid response. This acid response did not correlate with changes in plasma glucose or gastrin. The study demonstrated that pure psychic stimulation may be as effective an acid stimulant as sham feeding.