To determine the dose response of serum triglyceride concentrations to fat feeding, serum triglyceride responses to meals containing 40, 80, and 120 g fat (in the form of dairy cream) were measured in 12 normotriglyceridemic men. Mean postprandial lipemia (measured as the integrated area under the curve of serum triglyceride concentration plotted against time) was 251 +/- 129 mg.dL-1.8 h-1 (2.83 +/- 1.46 mmol.L-1.8 h-1) after the 40-g-fat meal, 503 +/- 233 mg.dL-18 h-1 (5.68 +/- 2.63 mmol.L-1.8 h-1) after the 80-g-fat meal, and 712 +/- 281 mg.dL-1.8 h-1 (8.04 +/- 3.17 mmol.L-1.8 h-1) after the 120-g-fat meal. These data indicate that in normotriglyceridemic men the magnitude of lipemia that follows the ingestion of a fat meal is directly proportional to the fat content of the meal. The results also suggest that the mechanism whereby triglyceride is removed from the intravascular compartment is not saturated by meals containing the amounts of fat typically consumed by men following a Western diet.