Doctor shares dangers of competitive eating as Joey Chestnut wins for 18th time

Joey Chestnut has officially won his 18th Nathan’s hot dog eating contest title, but a doctor has warned about the implications of being a competitive eater.

Think you can just eat 66 frankfurters and get away unscathed? Think again.

Obviously, the restroom is going to see some horrors shortly afterward, however, that’s just where it begins.

Chestnut, who won his title in Coney Island and gained a $10,000 prize for his win, didn’t break his record of 76 dogs, but he did come away as the champion.

But at what cost? According to Dr Lee Fong, a member of the Hunter Association of GPs and a senior clinical director of Hunter Primary Care, the risk is no small thing for those who like to eat for sport.

If you don’t know, competitive eating sees normal people train themselves so that they can consume a significant amount of food in a very short space of time, usually without chewing very much.

To wet their throats for an easier time getting the barely eaten food down, often, they drink a lot of water at the same time.

That’s also where things get tricky.

"For professional eaters, often they're training to distend their stomachs, and they're using lots of water to do that," Dr Fong said, per ABC.

He warned that this 'could lead to potentially fatal water intoxication’, which occurs when a person drinks too much water in a short frame of time.

But that’s not all.

The doctor went on to explain that repeated over-stretching of the stomach could lead to something called ‘gastroparesis, which can, in turn, lead to chronic nausea and vomiting’.

However, it’s apparently even worse for those who only do it occasionally.

Dr Fong said: "You're distending the stomach … and if your stomach is not used to it, then I think you've got a greater risk of perforation.

"Especially if, for example, you've already got an area of your stomach that's weak because, you've got an undiagnosed stomach ulcer.”

"Another thing that can happen, especially if you're not used to it, if you eat a lot, you might vomit,” he added. "If you vomit you risk tearing your oesophagus or your food pipe."

If that wasn’t enough risk, he said that you could also 'suck back your vomitus into your airway, which can be a potentially fatal thing’ as you’d essentially drown in your own vomit.”

In 2023, Natalie Buss, 37, collapsed and died after taking part in a marshmallow eating contest in Wales.

Another instance saw a man choke to death on a donut during a competition to win the sweet treat for free by eating it as fast as possible.

Dr Fong says choking is the number one cause of death for competitors.

"It just doesn't seem like it's worth dying for, and there's been numerous accounts of people dying in these sorts of competitions," he said.