A stomach growling in the middle of a meeting or a quiet lecture hall is one of life’s small embarrassments, yet it is also one of the most misunderstood bodily sounds. In this edition of HT’s Everyday Explained, we spoke to Dr Anukalp Prakash, director at gastroenterology, CK Birla Hospital, Gurgaon, to find the reason behind this.
Many assume it simply means “empty stomach”, but the reality involves a rather clever digestive process working exactly as it should.
“The medical term for this sound is borborygmi. These contractions exist to clear out leftover food particles, bacteria, and gas from the digestive tract, essentially acting as a housekeeping mechanism between meals. When the stomach is empty, there is little to muffle the sound, so the movement of air and fluid through the digestive tract becomes clearly audible. Dr Anukalp highlighted that a common misconception is that stomach growling only occurs when the body genuinely needs food. Another myth is that a silent stomach means poor digestion . Occasional quiet digestion is entirely normal and simply reflects a fuller stomach at that time.
It occurs due to a process called the migrating motor complex, a series of muscular contractions that sweep through the stomach and small intestine roughly every 90 minutes to two hours, regardless of whether food is present,” said Dr Anukalp. In truth, it can happen regardless of hunger , particularly after drinking water, during digestion, or even due to nervousness , as stress hormones can influence gut motility.
