Three indirect methods for assessing chylomicron-triglyceride clearance were compared in 12 normolipidemic men. Oral and intravenous fat tolerance tests and a duodenal fat perfusion were performed in each subject by standard methods. Mean values for postprandial lipemia (2.27 +/- 1.8 mmol), Intralipid half-life (13.7 +/- 5.2 min), and chylomicron-triglyceride half-life (4.5 +/- 2.6 min) were similar to corresponding values reported previously for normolipidemic men. The sample correlation coefficient (r) was 0.84 between oral and intravenous fat-tolerance tests, 0.84 between the oral fat-tolerance test and the duodenal-perfusion method, and 0.82 between the intravenous fat-tolerance and the duodenal perfusion methods. All three methods showed a strong correlation between chylomicron-triglyceride clearance and fasting triglyceride concentrations. These findings indicate that the oral and intravenous fat-tolerance tests and the duodenal-perfusion method yield qualitatively similar assessments of chylomicron-triglyceride clearance in normolipidemic men.