Inspired by this video, in which Matt Stonie wolfs down an astonishing 25 Big Macs in less than 20 minutes.
Presumably he doesn’t do this, or other feats of extreme consumption, on a daily basis. Given that such acts are probably rare in the life of a competitive eater (I’m guessing he only does something like this maybe once a month or so), do they pose significant acute/long-term health risks?
For reference, 25 Big Macs provides:
14,000 calories (about 6 days’ worth for an adult male)
825 grams of fat (13X DV)
1975 grams of cholesterol (6.5X DV)
25,000 grams of sodium (10X DV)
6X DV of iron
Does most of this just pass through his GI tract without being absorbed into the bloodstream?
Kobayashi apparently suffers from TMJ as a result of overworking his jaw, as noted in this article.
In another article written by a competitive eater by the name of Randy Santel, he outlines some potential health risks as well as how to mitigate them. Some of the health risks he lists are:
Choking
Biting your own finger
Getting sick from overeating
Gaining weight
Drawning yourself with training liquids which causes an electrolyte imbalance.
Many medical professionals believe that a stomach could rupture, but I couldn’t find any examples of that happening due to competitive eating during my cursory search. Little research seems to have been done on the long term effects.
These people are just channeling their inner python. If they were serious about these competitions, they’d swallow a whole gazelle, live, without chewing.
These things are disgusting. I can’t believe anyone would even want to do it.
When I was a kid, my Girl Scout leader’s husband told us that he won a contest by eating 22 jumbo shrimp, “and then I upchucked about 22 times!” It was a long time before he could eat shrimp again.
I’ll never forget the time my mother overindulged at a buffet (massive understatement; you had to be there) and when she got home and puked it all up, the toilet automatically flushed. :eek: Do you know how much you have to put into a toilet to make it do that? I’ve heard of bulimics doing this on purpose, and nearly killing themselves in the process.
ETA: I was just now wondering… Do competitors regurgitate at all after? Is that allowed? I know doing it during competition is against the rules (you probably forfeit or have to stop at that point) but what about after? Why do I want to ask this?
I remember that (probably). Wasn’t it titled something like “Hold Your Wee For A Wii”?
As for post-indulgence vomiting, there are some places that have promotions like if you eat the huge steak or gigantic ice cream sundae within a certain period of time, it’s free - IF it stays down. No binging and purging allowed. :dubious:
Almost. Yes, it was a radio station’s “Hold Your Wee For A Wii” contest. It happened in 2007. The lawsuit ended in 2009 with a big hungus verdict against the radio station.
I wouldn’t think there’s any danger: a large portion of Americans are already in continuous training to be called up for such events, and you don’t see a lot of bodies in the streets.
If they are in a competition and they know they cant win, they will just go ahead and stop. So for example if someone has ate 20 hot dogs and you’ve only ate 9, best to just drop out so as to not tax your body.
After winning I’ve read they just go into a quiet air conditioned room and let their bodies process it all. So some pain for 2-4 hours and then they would be fine. Some can even just sleep it off. I’ve never heard of them purging it back up.