The Health Implications of Competitive Eating
My in-laws hail from New York City, and as such, have eaten many a hot dog at the Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island. Once a year, I am required to take a break in our 4th of July festivities to sit down with my husband and watch the International Hot Dog Eating Contest on TV.
The 2007 event offered much drama. Will Joey Chestnut set a new world record? Will Kobayashi be able to compete with his jaw injury? (Seriously).
So I laughed when I saw this story in the The LA Times yesterday about competitive eating—which, by the way, apparently is considered a sport. But according to the experts, the health risks are many.
For example,
In a study of competitive eating published last year in the American Journal of Roentgenology, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine compared Major League eater Tim Janus (Eater X) with another male who was a hearty eater. They were both told to eat as many hot dogs as they could in 12 minutes. Before the test, they were given a dose of high-density barium, and the researchers used fluoroscopy to observe their stomachs.
The amateur ran out of room before he ran out of time. After hot dog No. 7, he said that even one more bite might make him sick. At that point, fluoroscopy showed minimal stomach expansion. Janus was going strong, and not feeling full or uncomfortable, after 10 minutes and 36 hot dogs.
At that point, the researchers stopped the test because fluoroscopy showed his stomach had assumed such proportions they feared it might be dangerous.
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