WHAT REALLY MAKES YOUR STOMACH GROWL

WRITER: FRED HILTON

It always happens when it’s very, very quiet—the worst possible time. It might be when you’re in church and the silent prayer just started. Or maybe it’s during a movie when there is no dialogue and something important is about to happen. Or it could be when you’re at dinner and trying to impress your hot blind date.

Always at one of these special moments, a low grumbling starts in the area of your stomach and grows louder and louder and louder. You’re sure the noise is reverberating off the walls. You know that everyone in the room is looking at you and giggling.

The rude noise from your innards is nothing new. The ancient Greeks gave it a name: borbroygmi (pronounced BOR-boh-RIG-me). It’s an attempt to put the sound into words. It translates as “rumbling.”

You’ve always figured the sound was your stomach reminding you it’s time to eat. Actually, the noise may or may not accompany hunger, and it is probably coming from your intestines, not your stomach. The rumbling sound is the result of muscular contractions of your intestinal wall combined with the presence of liquid and gas.

“Though stomach growling is commonly heard and associated with hunger and an absence of food in the stomach, it can occur at any time, on an empty or full stomach,” says Dr. Mark A.W. Andrews, an associate professor of physiology at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Pennsylvania. “Furthermore, growling doesn’t only come from the stomach but, just as often, can be heard coming from the small intestines. Growling is more commonly associated with hunger because it is typically louder when the stomach and intestines are empty, and so the organs’ contents don’t muffle the noise.”

Dr. Laurence Bailen, an assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Massachusetts, says it’s not really clear why your stomach growls when you haven’t eaten in a long time.

“Putting food into your system often quiets the noise, because the food takes up space and your digestive muscles become more focused on breaking down and absorbing the food than on moving the air around,” he says.

When you’re hungry, the growling may be louder simply “because your stomach and intestines are empty, so the noise created is not muffled,” Dr. Shawn Khodadadian, a New York City gastroenterologist, told FoxNews.com.

Swallowing air when you eat is one cause of abdominal growling, so eat slowly and chew with your mouth shut (just like your mother told you).

Another option when the growling starts is to point at the person sitting next to you.

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