ESPN advertising Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest? It’s quite an oxymoron, actually. “Surely,” I thought to myself after seeing the advertisement, “a food eating competition is not a sport, and therefore why would ESPN be promoting it?”
This prompted me to do a little research into food eating competitions. I was extremely surprised at what I found.
Not only do such events have massive popularity, with winners taking home US$20,000, but there is an actual world organisation called the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE), that is the governing body of MLE, Major League Eating (as in MLB or Major League Baseball).
It is the association that “encourages communication, cooperation and uniformity in the supervision and regulation of competitive eating events.”
From everything I have seen in my research, MLE is regarded as a sport. In fact, Wikipedia defines competitive eating as “a sport in which participants compete against each other to consume large quantities of food in a short time period.”
But really…a sport? Those who argue in favour of this classification for MLE reason that one must train and prepare just as one would do for any other sport. Training for MLE consists of increasing the elasticity of the stomach, which is usually seen as the key to eating success. Competitors usually train by consuming large amounts of water over a short time. This stretches the stomach.
Others add low calorie foods to such techniques and some eaters chew large amounts of gum to increase their jaw strength. They also work on refining their actual eating techniques.
I read about a competitor who practiced his technique of compressing hot dogs down into the smallest size possible before eating them in a particular manner, then jumping around to encourage the food to settle in his stomach after swallowing.
These competitors also undergo personal time trials with the contest food in order to improve their times.
Does such “training” merit classification as a sport? Asking this question begs an exploration of the definition of “sport.”
Wikipedia defines sport as “the exercise of skill in a physical activity which is often competitive and carried on for its intrinsic enjoyment, including that of its spectators.
It is generally recognised as activities based on physical athleticism or physical dexterity, governed by the use of rules.”
I suppose that if we strictly adhere to the above definition, we can say that competitive eating is somewhat a sport. It does have an element of competition, rules, and a level of enjoyment for the fans, and I suppose in some sick way (no pun intended), for the competitor himself.
One can even stretch the definition of physical activity and argue that the process of eating is physical and that an actual physical expansion must occur in the stomach.
But sport is much more than Wikipedia’s definition. Those in favour of classifying MLE as a sport have a hard battle to win.
Sport should not affect one’s health, and competitive eating can be dangerous. A study in 2007 by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine reported on the observation of competitive eater, Tim Janus. He ate 36 hot dogs in 10 minutes before doctors intervened.
They found that Janus’s stomach did not have normal muscle contractions that push food to the digestive tract.
This stomach paralysis, called gastroparesis, is a concern among those who stretch their stomachs beyond their capacity. This can cause chronic indigestion, nausea and vomiting.
Other concerns include ulcers and stomach perforations from binge eating and a condition known as water intoxication, which results from drinking large amounts of water, diluting electrolytes in the blood.
Carla Rauseo, DPT, CSCS is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist at Total Rehabilitation Centre Limited in El Socorro.