Other sports have a variety of drug use to enhance performance, people use drugs to improve red blood cell count, build muscle, improve glucose utilization, etc. What about competitive eating, are drugs used under the table for this sport? I remember watching the Nathans hotdog eating competition and the announcer said something to one of the competitors along the lines of ‘do you think the rumors of stomach relaxant use by the champ are true’. So I assume that there is at least some drug use in this sport assuming he wasn’t joking. What drugs are people using for this? are they using drugs to prevent fullness impulses from traveling from the stomach to the brain, or drugs to relax the lower sphincter in the stomach so food can pass into the small intestine undigested (releasing pressure on the stomach), or drugs to speed up digestion and increase appetite? Are anti-nausea drugs to prevent people from vomiting from eating too much? I’m sure there are tons of drugs being used under the table but I haven’t read anything about it yet.
First off, competitive eating is not a sport.
The only drug that I know of that increases appetite is marijuana.
Call it what you will. I’m sure there are other drugs that increase appetite too. also drugs that relax the lower sphincter in the stomach, drugs that increase appetite, drugs that block satiation signals from getting to the brain and drugs that prevent nausea all sound like they would have widespread use in competitive eating.
We know that athelets will cheat and take things that are dangerous in order to excel at things that bring them fame, fortune and glory. Those 3 things are lacking in competitive eating. I don’t imagine that eaters will do anything (else) to threaten their health, but I don’t know for sure.
There is glory in competitive eating and alot of the eaters in the US want to take the hot dog competition away from Kobayashi since he has won it for several years in a row. Kobayashi also makes over $100,000 a year as a competitive eater so for someone like him this is his livelihood. I would assume any advantage competitive eaters can find, they will look into. I know alot of them do things like stretch their stomachs by eating large amounts of high fiber foods or they will stuff themselves in order to dull the satiation signals that get to their brain. You’d assume drug use is also rampant but I haven’t heard of it yet.
I’ve heard that they dunk their hot dogs in water to soak the bun and let it slide down quicker. Is that true? Anyone who would do that can be suspected of anything.
Yeah they do do that. The guy who has won the last 2-3 hot dog eating competition has been accused of taking muscle relaxants to relax his stomach but aside from that accusation I haven’t heard anything about drug use in this sport.
I doubt that appetite and satiation are factors in eating contests. These guys cram it in till no more will fit, so a relaxant may help but they train for that.
Who says it isn’t a sport. Is shooting a .22 rifle a sport? C’mon!
I’m hungry.
Peace,
mangeorge
A related question may be, “if there are parents who overly emphasize their kids performance when determinign their worth and push them to compete in school sports (and overtrain and possibly drive them to drug use), are there any parents out there pushing their kids into becoming future eating champs?”
If you can go by the way kids today look, then yes there are lots of future competitive eaters on the horizon.
Last year’s Wing Bowl winner was a slight Asian woman as well. With El Wingador coming back out of retirement to try and win the crown back locally, however, things might change this year.
Kobayashi won’t enter Wing Bowl because of some bone aversion; strange.
In the same article, they mention “The Black Widow” who’s only 105 lbs. I saw her on TV and she’s quite thin, plus she eats a fair amount of food daily - probably to stay in whatever kind of “shape” is required.
I suppose that drugs that enhance gastric emptying (in the forward direction) might be of some benefit, along with those that promote colonic motility. However, too much of the latter, and you’ll have to interrupt the contest to evacuate.
Muscle relaxers would be a real dumb idea, as they would delay gastric emptying, encourage reflux, and promote vomiting.
But hey, the whole sport is a real dumb idea, AFAIAC.
Shooting .22 rifles is done for everything from sport to professional competition. What was the point of the comparison anyway?
It was just there. Shooting .22’s, figure skating, water ballet. Whatever.
Aren’t those .22’s in the olympics?
I saw her win WB last year (I’m going for the 5th consecutive year this February; it’s very ancient Rome-meets- The Simpsons) & heard her on local radio interviews. Apparently she has an absurd metabolsim and eats huge meals every day.
Maybe she doesn’r metabolize it all.