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Background: The correlation between symptoms and observed impaired function in functional dyspepsia is still inconsistent. The aims of the study were to obtain a measure of satiety by a meal test; to verify whether this compares with severity of symptoms assessed using a reproducible questionnaire; and to correlate the parameters of satiety test and gastric emptying with all the dyspeptic symptoms. Methods: Fifty-two functional dyspepsia patients reported their symptoms on a standardized questionnaire that considered belching, bloating, early satiety, epigastric pain and burning, nausea, postprandial fullness and vomiting. They were monitored for gastric emptying of a solid caloric meal using a radionuclide technique and underwent a test to quantify meal-induced satiety by a liquid caloric meal. Results: The number of kilocalories ingested during the satiety test until the occurrence of maximum satiety in healthy subjects was 110% higher than in the dyspeptic group (mean ± s[sub x]: 1110 ± 23 versus 532 ± 56; P < 0.01). We found a significant positive correlation between gastric emptying rate and kcal of the satiety test (P < 0.01; r = 0.428). Logistic regression showed a significant inverse association between severity of early satiety-coded as absent, mild, moderate or severe, kcal of meal test (P = 0.01), and gastric emptying lag phase (P = 0.03). Bloating was associated directly with t½ of gastric emptying (P = 0.03) and inversely with lag phase (P = 0.02). Conclusions: The satiety test gives a fine numerical measure of satiety and confirms the results of a symptoms questionnaire. Our study showed an indirect correlation between severity of early satiety—as measured by the satiety test, and gastric emptying rate, as well as an association between bloating and delayed gastric emptying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]