The aim of this study was to investigate the precise origin of the acid pre-duodenal lipase during human development and to evaluate its possible changes, at the tissue level, in children with gastritis or pancreatic insufficiency. Human gastric lipase appears around the 11th week of gestation and increases slowly during pre- and postnatal development. It is localized in the fundus of the stomach without any lingual localization. Human gastric lipase reaches its adult level in the third month of life, and does not vary in relation to pancreatic insufficiency. It is only rarely impaired during gastritis.