What competitive eating does to the body

Tits Independence Day, contestants on Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest You can swallow up to 76 sausages in the time it takes to read this article. Just like ultramarathoners who run 80 kilometers or football players recovering from big hits, “eating at speed” involves natural resilience, dedicated training and serious health risks.

Some may see the annual Coney Island, NY pageant as an act of defiance, capturing the Christmas spirit. When the British taxed our sugar, we fought for independence. When modern doctors tell us to eat fewer carbohydrates that quickly turn into blood sugar, we devour as much as possible on ESPN — and emerge seemingly unscathed.

But this gastric rebellion can damage the body, both during competition and in the long term.

A dangerous journey through the body

Mouth

Competitors typically fast before the event, says Miki Sudo, the most winning female champion in the history of the sport with Nathan’s nine titles in the women’s division. “You want your stomach to be empty and hungry” on game day, she says.

After a stirring national anthem, a horn honks participants to eat as many hot dogs as possible in 10 breezy minutes. Thus begins a mess of chewing and swallowing with a half-shark, half-snake physicality. According to the ESPN documentary series 30 by 30contestants train to strengthen their jaws so they can tear through food with the efficiency of prey and desensitize their gag reflexes to swallow large chunks that would make the rest of humanity vomit.

Esophagus

Just five seconds on this self-proclaimed “Super Bowl of competitive eating”, pieces of hot dog reach the esophagus, the tube that goes to the stomach. However, as they are not chewed enough, pieces can slip into the airways, which can cause suffocation. Paramedics are ready to help, but in all fast-eating competitions, choking is the biggest risk and can result in death.

see more information: Why Your Diet Needs More Fermented Pickles

As hot dogs accumulate in the body, so do the risks. The stomach cannot accept food as quickly as it arrives, so it accumulates in the lower esophagus. This jam can cause food to back up, which can lead to choking, tears in the esophagus and surgery to fix them, says Dr. David Metz, a retired professor of gastroenterology at the University of Pennsylvania who has studied the effects of fast eating.

Stomach

In just two minutes, some participants may have already stuffed ten hot dogs into their bellies. To accommodate this barrage, the stomach begins to expand. Normally, our stomachs swell like a balloon, with greater pressure as the meal progresses – and this pressure triggers a message in the brain that we are full. But speed eaters have trained with ever-increasing amounts of food to increase the elasticity of their stomach, so that it stretches more like spider silk. Without the same increase in pressure, their brains don’t get the message “put down your hot dog” – just the crowd’s shout to keep stuffing themselves.

Small intestine

Seven minutes into the competition, some pioneering pieces of hot dog have already traveled through the stomach to explore the small intestine, an organ dedicated to further digesting food and absorbing nutrients. However, this important work can be sabotaged when dealing with so many 22,800 calories in a single meal.

One problem is that too much glucose—the broken down form from all those hot dogs, especially their buns—can be dumped into the small intestine, explains Metz. The influx would put the body into panic mode as it seeks to avoid organ damage. This stress response, known as “dumping syndrome,” involves intense sweating, rapid heartbeat, nausea and diarrhea.

More research into dumping syndrome is needed, Metz says. For his study, Metz took X-ray images of a speed eater in action and found that the speedy feast was made possible by the “remarkable” expansion of the stomach, no causing food to quickly fall into the small intestine to make room for more. This suggests that dumping syndrome may not be a risk, although some competitive eaters report symptoms of the syndrome, such as profuse sweating.

see more information: Why do you sweat so much at night – and what to do about it

Another problem: Many pieces of hot dogs remain largely undigested, even after they’ve been churned through the stomach, says Kathleen Melanson, professor of nutrition and director of the Energy Balance Laboratory at the University of Rhode Island. These chunks can be fermented by bacteria in the small intestine, which can cause bacterial overgrowth, Melanson says, leading to abdominal pain and diarrhea, among other symptoms.

Examples of debilitating symptoms, such as severe pain that requires a five-day hospitalization, have been documented, albeit rarely. “That doesn’t mean they haven’t happened more,” says Metz. It doesn’t help at all: the feast can remain in the digestive tract for several days before it is finally expelled.

Destined to devour

Thinking you can eat a lot of hot dogs because you saw it on TV is like trying to climb El Capitan without ropes because you saw it Free solo. “No one at home should try this,” says Metz.

Professional gluttons gradually increase their food intake over long periods of time. (They do not practice drinking water, which can lead to brain swelling.) “There is clearly a training effect,” says James Smoliga, a sports medicine researcher at Tufts University. He found that elite competitive eaters reliably improve their performance with years of practice, so that their consumption rate reminds me of brown bears.

The improvement is likely based on physiologies uniquely suited to fast eating, says Smoliga. Sudo thinks he’s always had “natural stomach elasticity,” and Melanson notes that twin studies suggest that some people biologically eat faster than others. This innate “talent” could confer some protection against harm.

Unknown long-term harm

Far from being overweight, many speed eaters appear healthy. “They are physical specimens,” says Metz. “There are still no physical side effects for me from doing this,” other than some discomfort and sweating right afterward, says Nick Wehry, who is a competitive eater ranked fourth in the world (and Sudo’s husband). “Many of us love fitness,” says Sudo—a passion reinforced by the desire to reduce the risks of competitive eating, she adds.

It is not yet known whether this strategy will result in healthy aging, as “sport” (and its study) is relatively new. (Major League Eating, the body that oversees professional competitions, including Nathan’s, did not respond to a request for comment on whether they monitor the long-term effects of competitive eating.)

A long-term concern is that their stomachs have permanently expanded so that they will never feel full again, no matter how much they consume. “We don’t know if or how you can retrain him after he’s done competing,” says Melanson. To avoid obesity, former competitors could simply remember to stop eating, without relying on stomach signals. But this is “challenging and takes practice,” explains Melanson, who studies people who try to slow down their eating, which can help with weight loss and overall health.

Eating champion Takeru Kobayashi may have turned off his stomach signals after decades of competition, according to recent documentary Hack your health. “I eat too much because I’m a competitive eater,” he says in the film. “When you eat too much, you don’t savor the flavor or fully enjoy the smell of the food. ”

However, Sudo and Wehry say that after many years of competing, they still have a normal appetite.

see more information: What is the least amount of sleep you need?

A permanently stretched stomach can also result in gastroparesis, where the stomach takes a long time to empty, resulting in chronic nausea, pain, and vomiting.

Tim Janus, a 47-year-old former competitive eater who Metz studied in scientific research, quit the sport in 2016 after 11 years “out of an abundance of caution,” in part based on Metz’s findings about the risks. He was also worried about The damage of vomiting after a competition, a practice he describes as widespread. “When you eat so much food, you can’t digest it all,” he says. “Your stomach is too full to move things forward. Vomiting after competition is a necessary part of the sport.”

Janus tried to collaborate with other professional eaters to share and monitor their health and better understand the effects of competition, but was unable to pique their interest. He is now a foreign service officer in Mexico City and is in good health. Most of his former competitors also say they are healthy, but he “didn’t want to continue and realized I made a mistake.”

Speed ​​eaters can develop other illnesses associated with unhealthy diets, such as heart disease and diabetes. The American Medical Association has recognized eating fast as an unhealthy practice. But Sudo and Wehry are sleek and muscular. Their weight increases during competitions, but afterwards they eat less than normal to regain their health. (Another incentive to fast before or after: Belly fat can block stomach expansion, some competitive eaters have found.) Wehry says he loses about 20 pounds in just a few days after competitions. They say they avoid regurgitating food after competition. So do it many other professional competitors.

Outside of competition, Sudo and Wehry exercise daily and eat nutritiously. Wehry estimates that 70% of your calories per year are highly nutritious; training and competitions represent only 30%. Your blood pressure is slightly elevated, but your cholesterol has actually improved since he started competing, he says. Sudo’s doctor gave him a clean bill of health. She gave birth without complications at age 35. Even with competitions, “we still have a healthier lifestyle than 95% of the population,” says Wehry, a former competitive bodybuilder.

Another fast-eating couple, Rich and Carlene LeFevre, are models of longevity. After competing since the mid-1980s, the LeFevres reached old age in good health, Sudo says. (Rico is 80 years old.)

These speed demons can eat your 9.25 cakes in eight minutes and are they healthy too? Perhaps with the right genetics and behavioral strategies, Melanson says. “You can’t assume it will work for the general population.” Research suggests that other extreme competitors, ultrarunners, are doing better than some scientists expected, with many of them living into their 80s, notes Smoliga.

In addition to training as a dental hygienist, Sudo enjoys eating fast for the thrill of competition and “putting on a good show.” At the same time, she and Wehry want long lives to see their son grow up and meet their grandchildren. “I’m going to do everything I can to stick around for a while,” says Sudo.