Why does the stomach growl? Simply explained

Why the stomach growls is an interesting question. The phenomenon often occurs together with a feeling of hunger, but can also refer to other processes of the gastrointestinal tract.

Why the stomach growls

Among other digestive sounds, people may also have a stomach growl. The technical term for this is borborygmus. It is a natural and normal result of digestion.

• To ensure constant digestion of food, the stomach works continuously – whether it is full or not.

• To do this, it contracts and falls apart again, pushing the ingested food into the intestines. When the stomach is empty, air and gastric juices are transported instead.

• When the air is then forced into the narrow opening of the intestine, the sound known as a stomach growl occurs. This is how it happens that a person swallows about 2 litres of air a day.

• Since people often feel hungry when their stomach is empty, growling is a sign of this. But it is not necessarily associated with it.