Competitive eating paper in medical journal
David Metz, who examined Tim “Eater X” Janus on “The Science of Speed Eating”, has published a paper with three other researchers called “Competitive Speed Eating: Truth and Consequences” in the American Journal of Roentgenology. Access to the paper requires payment of $10, but an abstract is available which concludes:
Our observations suggest that successful speed eaters expand the stomach to form an enormous flaccid sac capable of accommodating huge amounts of food. We speculate that professional speed eaters eventually may develop morbid obesity, profound gastroparesis, intractable nausea and vomiting, and even the need for a gastrectomy. Despite its growing popularity, competitive speed eating is a potentially self-destructive form of behavior.
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Save yourself $10 said
December 6, 2007 @ 1:55 am
Too many hot dogs take home top prize but lose peristalsis
Researchers call for federation to conduct studies on current and former competitive speed eaters
By: C. P. Kaiser
Competitive speed eating is an activity that has grown in worldwide stature within the last several years. Researchers at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, however, have sounded a clarion call for rigorous long-term study of competitors to gauge risks that may occur as these athletes age and stop competing.
“I’m not sure what the reaction will be of the International Federation of Competitive Eating,” said lead author of a new study Dr. Marc Levine, admitting the difficulty of drawing conclusions from a sample size of one. “We certainly hope that the IFOCE will see this as an early warning sign and consider monitoring the long-term health of present and past competitors to get a better handle on the risks of this sport.”
The IFOCE website states that safety is its first consideration, that eating matches should take place in a controlled environment and only among those 18 years or older. It also states that one should not try speed eating at home. Officials at the federation declined to comment.
Levine and colleagues assessed a 29-year-old competitive male speed eater, ranked internationally in the top 10, along with a 35-year-old male control subject whom they described as having a hearty appetite (AJR 2007;189:681-686).
First the speed eater outdrank the control and then he ate 36 hotdogs in 10 minutes, stopping only when researchers feared gastric perforation, while the control could muster only seven hot dogs. Fluoroscopy revealed the competitor’s stomach to be a massively distended, food-filled sac occupying most of the upper abdomen, with little or no gastric peristalsis and emptying of a small amount of barium into the duodenum.
The speed eater said he spent years training, forcing himself to consume larger and larger amounts of food despite the sensation of fullness and satiety. Consequently, he now is incapable of experiencing the usual sensation of fullness and satiety after meals. So how does he maintain his 165-pound frame? He carefully monitors his food intake, measuring portions without refilling his plate despite the fact that he never feels full or sated.
Researchers speculated that aging speed eaters could lose their willpower to control eating, leading to chronic binge eating because they never feel sated. Such a scenario could lead to morbid obesity. Additionally, their stomachs could lose the ability to shrink to their original size and become incapable of digesting or emptying solid food. They could then develop intractable nausea and vomiting, necessitating a partial or total gastrectomy to relieve their symptoms and restore their ability to eat.
Ideally, investigators would like to do similar testing on a series of competitive speed eaters to determine if these preliminary observations are reproducible in a larger sample size. The prospects of that happening are slim. The logistics of arranging for even a single professional eater to come to Philadelphia were surprisingly complex, according to Levine, chief of gastrointestinal imaging at HUP.
Dr. Yong Ho Auh, chief of the division of abdominal imaging at Weill Cornell Medical College, said the research is interesting but too weak as scientific material. Nevertheless, with tongue in cheek, he forwarded the study to his son.
“My son is a speed eater,” he said. “I always scold him not to eat fast. Maybe this will help him have more concern about his habit.”
SuperPaul NotImpressed Mythbuster Barlow said
December 6, 2007 @ 6:55 am
His conclusions are what happens to anyone who would continue to over-eat, not exercise, or eat good healthy food when not competing. Just like any over-indulging, like drinking, smoking, whatever, if you don’t take care of your body, you’ll pay.
“Potentially” is the key word here. If I walk outside in 5 degree weather constantly without clothes, I may potentially freeze my booty off, get arrested, or die of exposure (to the cold, that is). When I wear heavy clothes (just like when we exercise and eat healthy foods) and walk outside, I’m fine. And, I don’t scare the neighbors.
His conclusion were the same as his appearance in the show, no real insights, a bunch of semi-conclusions that anyone could figure out without any “research”. Watching Tim’s stomach expand was interesting for a few seconds, but didn’t prove much more than the fact Tim can eat a lot – big news!
What he says here sounds scary, until you see it is all speculation – he didn’t prove anything. It sounds like one of my air-filled term papers in college, a bunch of words on a bunch of pages designed to make me look knowledgeable, but if you looked close, it was bad use of a tree!!
Save your $10, and invest it in something healthier, with a possible better conclusion, like the lottery!!
Rhonda Evans said
December 6, 2007 @ 7:52 am
The conclusion makes perfect sense, which is why the career of a competitive eater should be only a few years at the most. I do believe there are exceptions, but they are few and far between, and it is a supreme, life-threatening risk to participate for many years thinking that you are an exception when the odds are stacked against you.
I say this because the new breed of eater like Joey, Pat, Tim, Humble Bob and others practice, practice, practice, which they admit openly. However, I wholeheartedly believe that eating machines Rich and Sonya are marvelous exceptions to this, because they rarely, if ever, practice and any stretching of the stomach is very, very gradual at best.
Rich and Sonya could probably be top ranked competitive eaters for many more years, if they so choose, without taxing their health. They are naturals, along with Kobayashi, and thats why those three are my very favorite eaters of all time!
They are very, very special …
Dr Feelgood said
December 6, 2007 @ 10:22 am
This doctor is being evasive when he says they will never know what it feels like to be full if they continue with this behavior. If thats the case then hundreds of Joey Chestnuts or Pat Bertoletti’s will evolve from his theories and the IFOCE will have so many great competitors they wont know what to do with them. . He happens to be wrong. You have to feel a sense of fullness at some point regardless of chronic binge eating. He fails to mention that if you eat healthy for a good part of the year and you compete every once in awhile there is little chance that you will fall under the category of developing a massively distended stomach , and the food-filled sac occupying most of the upper abdomen, will provide hardly any gastric peristalsis while emptying a small amount of barium into the duodenum.
FYI said
December 6, 2007 @ 12:28 pm
I think any competitive eater who has been training would tell you that at a regular meal, you do not feel satisfied. (aka full)
But, you have to realize that you are not like other people and it is time to stop eating.
If you don’t, you will overeat and become quite fat. It actually does take self discipline to stop eating when not full.
I said
December 6, 2007 @ 12:48 pm
feelgood the bottom line is referring to what chestnuts and bertoleti and janus et al are doing by training…….that is not good……..are you stupid enough to think it is fine??????????
Dr Feelgood said
December 6, 2007 @ 1:55 pm
You have to weigh the good and the bad. Can that type of training become more damaging to your health as opposed to cigarette smoking over the years? Some have gotten away with smoking packs of cigarettes per day and they never developed lung cancer. The huge amounts of food they are training with are obviously disposed through heaving or vomiting which doesnt give the small intestine much time to say hello to these massive quantities of food. This is good in some aspects, but forced vomiting can also cause severe throat damage as time progresses. Rhonda Evans appears to make the most sense stating Lefevre and Sonya wont be affected because they dont train at all.
badlands Booker said
December 6, 2007 @ 8:19 pm
Save your money purchasing this story and instead buy something much more valuable, like Hungry & Focused 4 Fork Knife & Mic, now available in the IFOCE Store!
Burger Queen said
December 8, 2007 @ 2:24 am
It will be interesting to see what happens to the top ranked eaters in the coming years. Will they live normal like everybody else? Only time will tell. Some people seem to think that one of them will blow out their stomach. Ouch Oink Oink