Eating contests have graduated from amusing high school or college stunts to high-profile competitive eating events sponsored by major companies with huge cash rewards. Gulping down items such as hot dogs, doughnuts, meatballs or eggs in a matter of minutes while overcoming gag reflexes or nausea has caused health concerns about what this can do to a person’s body, especially for participants who face dangers from competing in these contests regularly.
Food Intake
Regular competitors prepare their bodies for food intake. They may monitor their calorie intake and exercise frequently to build up muscle that burns off the calories they ingest. During contests they may drink lots of water to help food settle in the digestive tract or move around so the food positions itself in a comfortable spot in the stomach. But the volume of food intake during competitive eating leads to extreme weight gain and loss between contests. Competitors eat very light meals while in training or consume a variety of supplements before gorging themselves with food at eating contests. The food eaten during competitive eating competitions is often unhealthy.
Stomach Extension
Competitive eating can lead to serious stomach problems, including stretching the size of the stomach so persistent nausea and vomiting result, requiring surgery, according to Marc Levine, a radiologist at the University of Pennsylvania. Levine and colleagues used fluoroscopic x-ray techniques on a 29-year-old champion competitive eater and a non-competitive 35-year-old subject. After eating seven hot dogs to the point where he was full, the non-competitor’s stomach hadn’t stretched much from its original size. The competitive subject ate 36 hot dogs and his stomach had “massively distended,” Levine told the "Wall Street Journal." The competitor’s stomach also lacked the muscle contractions necessary to break down food. The stretching could create a long-term risk of the stomach not returning to normal size, which would eventually require surgery, Levine says.
Choking
A lethal danger may occur from choking during contests, says Julie Garden Robinson, a food and nutrition specialist at North Dakota University. A child in Japan choked to death in 2002 while mimicking an eating contest in a school cafeteria. Eating so much at one time increases the risk of blockage or restriction of the throat, which can stop breathing. People can choke to death on medium to large portion of food. The growing popularity of competitive eating spreads through the news and on TV, so more people get involved in their own contests. Some restaurants offer free meals for finishing huge-sized dinners in a certain time.
Better Ways
Safety plays a role in many worldwide competitive eating events. Organizations, such as the International Federation of Competitive Eating, issue safety standards and discourage home training. The broadening attraction of competitive eating may encourage spectators and viewers to eat more in an era when obesity has become a major health concern, Robinson notes. The nutrition specialist recommends competing in running events when the competitive urge strikes and savoring the flavor of foods.
Member Comments