Our aim was to examine the control of gastric emptying of the oil phase of a mixed solid and liquid meal. Previous studies had shown that liquid dietary fats normally leave the stomach at a slower rate than does water. We wished to determine whether the slower emptying of fats was due to the physical characteristics of food (lower density and greater viscosity than water), to retardation by duodenal feedback mechanisms, or whether both factors contributed. Thus, we quantified the emptying rates of water and sucrose polyester (a nonabsorbable analog of dietary fat) ingested by healthy volunteers as a mixed solid and liquid meal. Gastric emptying was quantified by an intubation-perfusion method incorporating an occlusive jejunal balloon to facilitate recovery. Four phase-specific, nonabsorbable markers were used. [14C[Sucrose octaoleate and polyethylene glycol were incorporated in the meal and traced the lipid and water phases, respectively; [3H]glycerol triether and phenolsulfonphthalein were used as duodenal recovery markers. Sucrose polyester (substituting for dietary fat) was emptied very rapidly, and at about the same rate as was water, in contrast to natural fat, which empties very slowly. Emptying of water was rapid and comparable to that observed after mixed meals containing natural fat. These results imply that gastric emptying of the oil phase is controlled by receptors sensitive to the hydrolytic products of fat digestion and that the slow emptying of dietary fat is not simply due to its lower density.