The Health Impact of a Hot Dog Eating Contest

Every year, on the 4th of July, Americans eat hot dogs, a lot of hot dogs. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, 150 Million hot dogs are consumed on July 4th.

That comes out to less than a hot dog per American, but there are some people that eat more than their fair share. They are the contestants at Nathan's Famous 4th of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest, which is held annually in Coney Island, Brooklyn. This year marks 100 years since the first contest in 1916. The contest attracts 40,000 fans and will be broadcast on ESPN at noon, with the Women's Championship at 11:30 AM.

Joey "Jaws" Chestnut had won eight years in a row, but last year, Matt Stonie ate 62 hot dogs to Joey Chestnut's 60. The all time record is still held by Joey Chestnut, which is 73 hot dogs. Before Chestnut was the Hot Dog King, Takera Kobayashi had won for 6 years straight.

What is the health impact of eating 73 hot dogs in 10 minutes?

According to nutrition facts listed on the Nathan's website, each hot dog contains 290 calories, 17 grams of fat and 710 milligrams of sodium. That means that consuming 69 hot dogs provides:

1. 20,010 calories! That is enough calories for as someone on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet would to last ten days.

2. 1,173 grams of fat = A little over 2 pounds, 9 ounces of fat!

3. 48,990 milligrams of sodium. Sodium intake should be about 1,000 mg a day and should not exceed 3,000 mg/day. That exceeds the maximum recommended sodium intake for 16 days!

It isn't talked about much, but I speculate that these competitive eaters can't actually digest all of that food. There simply isn't enough gastric acid and digestive enzymes in the human body to do that job. The food would putrefy in the stomach before it could be broken down and digested. The only logical survival strategy for these contestants would be to vomit or purge the contents of their stomachs, after these competitions.

Very little research exists surrounding the effects of competitive eating on the human body, mainly because so few people do it.

There are significant risks associated with stuffing the stomach to its capacity, even just one time, such as rupturing the stomach.

Contrary to logic, the majority of the successful eaters on the professional circuit aren't morbidly obese. thinner people can expand their stomachs with less fat pushing back against the stomach.

Nathan's Website