A MARS BAR IS NOT AN ADEQUATE FATTY MEAL - A COMPARISON WITH CALOGEN

A prospective study was performed to compare the contractility of the gall bladder ultrasonically after ingestion of a 65 g Mars bar or 60 ml of Calogen. Using a repeated measure design, 27 healthy subjects were studied fasting and at 10 min intervals after ingestion of the fatty meal. Results show that there is a significant difference between Mars bar and Calogen (ANOVA, P less than or equal to 0.01), with Calogen producing greater gall bladder contraction overall, and that the ejection fraction is greatest at 40 min (t = 2.23, P less than or equal to 0.01). It is suggested that 60 ml of Calogen is used as the standard fatty meal to assess gall bladder contractility and that the patient is rescanned 40 min post fatty meal.