Facts about the Stomach
- 09
Ghrelin, a hormone produced by stomach cells, signals the brain's hunger center and increases appetite, with levels rising before meals and dropping sharply after eating.
- 08
Capable of expanding significantly after a meal, the stomach can hold roughly one liter when comfortably full and up to four liters at maximum capacity.
- 07
Intrinsic factor, a protein produced by stomach cells, binds to vitamin B12 in food to enable its absorption in the small intestine, and without it, pernicious anemia develops within two to five years.
- 06
Alcohol absorption begins in the stomach itself, with approximately 20 percent of consumed ethanol entering the bloodstream directly through the stomach lining before reaching the small intestine.
- 05
Pyloric sphincter muscles at the stomach's exit open and close selectively, allowing only liquids and particles smaller than 2 millimeters to pass into the small intestine.
- 04
An empty stomach produces about 1.5 liters of gastric juice daily, which pools at the bottom and is reabsorbed when no food is present.
- 03
Stomach muscles contract in coordinated waves called peristalsis approximately three times per minute to churn and mix food with digestive enzymes for two to four hours.
- 02
Gastric juices in the stomach can dissolve bone within 24 hours due to hydrochloric acid concentrations reaching pH levels between 1.5 and 3.5.
- 01
Every three to five days, the stomach's lining completely replaces itself to withstand its own corrosive gastric acid.