We have all heard of the American legend, Joey Chestnut, who ate a world record 74 hotdogs and buns on the 4th of July in 2018. Some have estimated that he has eaten about 19,200 hot dogs in his life. While this may sound disgusting and repulsive, the feat of competitive eating is intriguing. The training that must happen to allow this sport to occur is very interesting. I wanted to see the physiological changes that occur when these athletes train that give them the competitive edge against their hungriest competition.
A study was done at The University of Pennsylvania, by Marc Levine, that compared a top 10 ranked competitive eater against a control subject and was looking at the physiological differences between the two eaters. One experiment found that the competitive eater only emptied his stomach 25% in 2 hours, whereas the control subject emptied 75% of his stomach in 2 hours (the normal rate of emptying is >50%) (Levine, 2007). This points to the fact that the competitive eater is able to consume abnormally large volumes of food before feeling sated because of increased gastric accommodation (stomach expanding) (Levine, 2007). They then did fluoroscopy images while the two participants attempted to speed-eat hot dogs. The findings were astonishing. The control subject ate only 7 hot dogs before feeling satiated and showed little stomach distention and good amounts of gastric peristalsis (Image 1) (Levine, 2007). The competitive eater on the other hand was able to consume 36 hot dogs in 10 minutes before the study team decided to terminate his eating. The images showed little to no gastric peristalsis and an incredible amount of gastric distention (Levine, 2007). They also found that there was evidence of hot dogs accumulating in the distal esophagus as the fundus of the stomach became packed (Levine, 2007). The image of the competitive eater shows an enlarged, dilated stomach that fills up the majority of the upper quadrant of the abdomen (Image 2).
This study had its limitations (sample size of 1), but it showed some incredible physical evidence of the physiological changes that happen in those who have trained for competitive eating and the rest of us. The body is incredible at adapting and changing, and competitive eating is a great example of the physiological changes you can induce with consistent training. The long-term health effects are still unknown and are being studied.
Image 1: Final fluoroscopy image of control subject after eating 7 hot dogs.
Image 2: Final fluoroscopy image of the competitive eater after 36 hot dogs.
Citation:
Levine, M. S., Spencer, G., Alavi, A., & Metz, D. C. (2007). Competitive speed eating: Truth and consequences. American Journal of Roentgenology, 189(3), 681–686. https://doi.org/10.2214/ajr.07.2342
I have always been curious about competitive eaters, so thank you for shedding some light on the subject. It always amazed me how much they could continue eating when the average person would have been sick if they ate as much as they do. It is interesting to find out that their stomachs actually stretch and expand as they train for these competitions almost like an adaptation to the environment. I enjoyed that you related this fact back to the idea that consistent training can lead to the physiological changes that we are trying to make. However, have you considered how this training is done or what the negative outcomes of this constant overeating are?
ReplyDeleteI was able to do some digging for answers to these questions and here is what I was able to find. The first article I found was a study conducted about the consequences of speed eating including the potential need for a future gastrectomy.
Levine, M. S., Spencer, G., Alavi, A., & Metz, D. C. (2007). Competitive Speed Eating: Truth and Consequences. American Journal of Roentgenology, 189(3), 681–686. https://doi.org/10.2214/ajr.07.2342
The second article I found is unfortunately not a scientific article. However, it does go over the major points of a competitive eater's training and how they achieve this stretching of the stomach which I think is still relevant and interesting to look over.
17 Secrets of a Competitive Eating Champion. (2015, November 24). Mental Floss. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/57591/17-secrets-competitive-eating-champion
I have actually never heard of Joey Chesnut before, so this post was crazy to read. It's interesting to see that behavioral changes, such as eating habits, can have physiological implications, like stomach distension. I wonder what would have happened if the study team allowed the competitive eater to continue past 36 hot dogs. It turns out the stomach is able to stretch 75 times larger than its resting size. However, if you consume too much food, your stomach could rupture. This would be difficult to do, considering the protective mechanisms your body induces, which includes vomiting and nausea. The vomiting will empty your stomach contents while the nausea will discourage further ingestion. It would be interesting to better understand the mechanism by which competitive eaters are able to evade this reflex. I also wonder if competitive eaters have different compositions of digestive enzymes which might allow them to break down food faster and, therefore, make more room for more food. I think an interesting additional study would be to look into the concentration of salivary amylase or peptidase competitive eaters have.
ReplyDeletehttps://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-herkimer-biologyofaging/chapter/the-stomach/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/11/21/binge-eating-overeating-stomach-rupture/