The big eater has practiced it! Overeating can cause serious stomach damage and lead to death

The Department of Health has publicly called for a halt to "big eater" competitions, where people compete to eat the most food in a short period of time. However, there are still many restaurants that use such competitions to stir up the atmosphere, and Japan's big eater programs continue to be popular. Doctors remind that the well-known big eaters are actually professional players, and it is actually very dangerous for ordinary people to compete in eating without any training.

Competitors in eating contests often eat large amounts of high-fat foods, such as hot dogs and hamburgers. In addition, binge eating in a short period of time can also damage the stomach. Doctors urge the general public who have not received professional training not to try this.

Popular eating contests range from swallowing chili peppers, drinking beer, eating hot dogs to beef noodles, etc., where contestants eat desperately for a chance to win prize money or a free meal. Zhang Weixing, director of the Ultrasound Room at Ruan General Hospital, said that whether it is a competition of speed or amount of food eaten, for ordinary people who have not received training in large appetites, various dangers are very likely to occur.

Zhang Weixing said that if you eat too fast, food can easily enter the respiratory tract and get stuck in the trachea. If the respiratory tract is blocked and lack of oxygen lasts for more than 1 minute, you may fall into a coma, and if it lasts for more than 10 minutes, your heart and lungs will stop. In fact, if the heart and lungs stop for more than 4 minutes, even if emergency treatment is given, it will cause brain hypoxia and damage, and even cause an accidental brain death due to hypoxia.

In addition, even if food does not get stuck in the trachea, eating a large amount of food in a short period of time can cause parasympathetic nerve excitement, a decrease in heart rate and blood pressure, and sudden shock and coma. There are also some potential health risks, such as causing the stomach to not function normally, indigestion, and even causing acute gastritis, severe vomiting, gastric mucosal tear, esophageal rupture, gastric bleeding, cardia tear, gastroparesis, etc.

Dr. Zhang Weixing said that some people mistakenly believe that they can use vomiting to relieve gastrointestinal discomfort after eating and drinking too much. However, this is more likely to cause esophageal lacerations, and prolonged vomiting will also increase the chance of foreign objects entering the lungs, leading to fatal pneumonia.

Food is also a big problem. Competitors in eating contests mostly eat large amounts of high-fat foods, such as hot dogs, steaks, and hamburgers. The gallbladder must secrete a large amount of bile to aid digestion. Insufficient bile secretion can easily lead to cholecystitis. For some patients with special diseases, such as diabetes, if they rashly participate in a competitive eating contest, their blood sugar will surge instantly, and their insulin will not be able to compensate, causing ketoacidosis or even coma.

Dr. Zhang Weixing reminded that those well-known big eaters on Japanese shows are actually professionals who have undergone rigorous professional training and are definitely not just born good eaters. Therefore, the public should not be so unrealistic and take risks with their bodies as it may not be worth the risk.