Why Tummy Noises May Indicate Health Problems

Listen carefully, the gurgles of a grumbling belly could be a cry for help.

- Michael Mosley

One of my medical heroes is Prof Barry Marshall of the University of Western Australia. We met in the 1990s when I made a documentary about him and his colleague, Robin Warren. I created the film, Ulcer Wars, because they had a great story to tell: they had identified and grown a species of bacteria they called Helicobacter pylori and had become convinced that it was responsible for the majority of cases of gastric cancer and gastric ulcers.

As a film-maker, it appealed to me that in the 1980s Barry had drunk from a beaker containing H. pylori. He became ill and a biopsy of his gut revealed that the H. pylori had indeed begun colonising his stomach lining and the upper part of his small intestine, causing inflammation, or gastritis. He took antibiotics, his symptoms improved and biopsies confirmed the H. pylori had gone.