by Ta Independence Day, contestants at Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest up to 76 wieners could reduce the amount of time it takes to read this article. Like ultramarathoners hoofing 50 miles or football players shaking big hits, “speed-eating” involves natural resilience, dedicated training, and serious health risks.
Some might see the annual Coney Island, NY, pageant as an unpopular act that captures the holiday spirit. When the British taxed our sugar, we fought for independence. When today’s doctors tell us to eat fewer carbs that convert to blood sugar quickly, we binge on ESPN—and walk away unscathed.
But this gastric revolt could damage the body, during the competition and over the long haul.
A dangerous journey through the body
Mouth
Competitors usually rush before the event, says Miki Sudo, the winningest women’s champion in the history of the sport with nine of Nathan’s titles in the women’s division. “You want the stomach to be empty and hungry” on game day, she says.
After a rousing national anthem, a horn signals participants to eat as many hot dogs as possible in 10 minutes. Thus begins a blur of chewing and swallowing with a corporeality that is half-shark, half-snake. According to an ESPN documentary series 30 for 30train contestants to strengthen their jaws so they can tear apart food with fang-like efficiency and desensitize their gag reflexes to slurp up large chunks that would send the rest of humanity back.
Esophagus
Just five seconds into the advertised “Super Bowl of competitive eating,” pieces of hot dog enter the esophagus, the tube that leads to the stomach. However, because they are not chewed enough, chunks can slip into the airway, which can cause choking. The paramedics are ready to help, but in all speed-eating competitions, the biggest risk is choking, which can lead to death.
Read more: Why you need more fermented pickles in your diet
As hot dogs accumulate in the body, take more risks. The stomach cannot accept the food as fast as it is coming, so it accumulates in the lower esophagus. This traffic jam can cause the food to come back up forcefully, which can cause choking, tearing of the esophagus, and surgery to correct them, says Dr. David Metz, a retired professor of Gastroenterology at the University of Pennsylvania who studied the. speed-eating effects.
stomach
In just two minutes, some participants may already have ten hot dogs packed into their stomachs. To accommodate this barrage, the stomach begins to expand. Normally, our stomachs expand like a balloon, with more pressure as the meal progresses – and this pressure triggers a news flash in the brain when we’re full. But fast eaters have trained with ever-increasing quantities of food to increase the elasticity of their stomach, so it stretches more like spider silk. Without increasing the same pressure, their brains get no message of “put your hot dog in”—but the crowd is too loud to keep up.
Small steak
Seven minutes into the competition, several leading hot dog pieces have already raced through the stomach to explore the small intestine, an organ dedicated to further digesting food and absorbing nutrients. However, this important job could be ruined when you are dealing with up to 22,800 calories in one meal.
One issue is that too much glucose — the broken-down form of all those hot dogs, especially their buns — could be dumped into the small intestine, Metz explains. The influx would send the body into panic mode as it tries to avoid organ damage. This stress response, known as “dumping syndrome,” involves heavy sweating, rapid heartbeat, nausea, and diarrhea.
More research is needed on dumping syndrome, says Metz. For his study, Metz took X-ray images of one speed eater in action and found that a fast feast enabled “significant” stomach expansion. no dropping food quickly into the small intestine to make room for more. This suggests that dumping syndrome may not be a risk, although some competitive rowers report symptoms of the syndrome, such as profuse sweating.
Read more: Why You Get Up So Much At Night – And What To Do About It
Another problem: Many pieces of hot dog remain largely undigested even after making it through the stomach churn, says Kathleen Melanson, professor of nutrition and director of the Energy Balance Laboratory at the University of Rhode Island. Bacteria in the small intestine can ferment these chunks, which can cause bacterial overgrowth, according to Melanson, leading to abdominal pain and diarrhea, among other symptoms.
Examples of debilitating symptoms, such as severe pain requiring a five-day hospitalization, have been documented, although they are rare. “That doesn’t mean more hasn’t happened,” says Metz. Not helping matters: the feast can remain in the digestive tract for several days before it is finally expelled.
Destined to devour
Thinking you can eat scores of hot dogs because you saw it on TV is like trying to climb El Capitan without ropes as you saw single free,. “Nobody in town should try this,” says Metz.
Professional gluttons gradually increase their food intake over long periods of time. (They don’t exercise by chugging water, which can cause brain swelling.) “There’s 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 scavenging rate is similar to grizzly bears.
The improvement probably builds on physiologies that are suitable for fast-eating, according to Smoliga. Sudo thinks she’s “always had a natural stomach elasticity,” and Melanson notes that a few studies suggest that some people biologically eat faster than others. This innate “talent” may provide some protection from harm.
Unknown long-term damages
Far from being overweight, many fast-eaters appear to be healthy. “They are physical specimens,” says Metz. “There are no physical side effects for me yet from doing this,” other than some discomfort and sweating immediately afterward, says Nick Wehry, who is the fourth-ranked competitive eater in the world (and Sudo’s husband). “A lot of us love exercise,” Sudo says—a passion fueled by a desire to reduce the risks of competitive eating, she says.
Whether this strategy will lead to healthy aging remains to be seen, as the “sport” (and the study of it) is relatively new. (Major League Eating, the body that oversees pro tournaments, including Nathan’s, did not respond to a request for comment on whether they track the long-term effects of competitive eating.)
One long-term concern is that their stomachs are permanently enlarged, so they never feel full again, no matter how much they eat. “We don’t know if or how you can train it back after you’re done competing,” says Melanson. To avoid obesity, former contestants could simply remind themselves to stop eating, without relying on their stomach symptoms. But this is “challenging and takes practice,” explains Melanson, who studies people trying to slow down their eating rate, which can help with weight loss and overall health.
Eating pro Takeru Kobayashi may have disabled his stomach symptoms after decades of competition, according to a 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 taste the food and you don’t enjoy the smell of the food. You ignore your body’s signals, like fullness.”
However, Sudo and Wehry say that after years of competition, they still have normal appetites.
Read more: What is the least amount of sleep you need?
A permanently distended stomach can also lead to gastroparesis, when the stomach takes too long to empty, causing chronic nausea, pain and vomiting.
Tim Janus, a 47-year-old former competitive eater whom Metz has studied in scientific research, retired from the sport in 2016 after 11 years “out of an abundance of caution” based in part on Metz’s findings about the risks. He was also concerned about the harms of throwing up after the competition, a practice he describes as widespread. “When you’re eating so much food, you can’t digest it,” he says. “Your stomach is too full to move things with you. Post-competition recovery is an essential part of the sport.”
Janus tried to collaborate with other pro eaters to share and track their health to better understand the effects of competition, but was unable to stimulate their interest. He is now a foreign service officer in Mexico City in good health. Most of his former competitors say they are healthy, too, but “he didn’t want to continue and realize that I made a mistake.”
Fast eaters may have other illnesses related to unhealthy diets, such as heart disease and diabetes. The American Medical Association has recognized fast-eating as an unhealthy practice. But Sudo and Wehry are trim and muscular. Their weight increases during competitions but, afterwards, they eat less than usual to recover their health. (Another incentive for fasting before or after: belly fat can block the expansion of the stomach, some competitive eaters have found.) Wehry says he drops about 20 pounds in just a few days after a competition. They say they avoid regurgitating food after the competition. So do many other pro competitors.
Outside of competition, Sudo and Wehry exercise daily and eat nutritiously. Wehry estimates that 70% of her calories per year are highly nutritious; training and competitions only make up 30%. His blood pressure is slightly elevated, but his cholesterol has improved since he started competing, he says. Sudo’s doctor has given her a clean bill of health. She gave birth without difficulty at age 35. Even with the competitions, “we still have a healthier lifestyle than 95% of the population,” says Wehry, a former competitive bodybuilder.
Another speed-eating couple, Rich and Carlene LeFevre, are models of longevity. Having competed since the mid-’80s, the LeFevres have reached an old age in good health, Sudo says. (Rich is 80 years old.)
Can these speed demons eat their 9.25 cakes in eight minutes and still have their health? Maybe with the right genetic and behavioral strategies, says Melanson. “You can’t assume it’s going to work for the general public.” Research suggests that other extreme competitors, ultramarathoners, are doing better than some scientists expected, with many living into their mid-80s, Smoliga notes.
In addition to training as a dental hygienist, Sudo enjoys speed eating for the thrill of competition and “putting on a good show.” At the same time, she and Wehry want a long life to watch their son grow up and meet their grandchildren. “I’m going to do everything I can to stick around for a while,” Sudo says.
