The contest, held in Coney Island every Fourth of July, is (perhaps regrettably) an American staple.
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The terrifying totals of calories, fat, and sodium consumed at Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest
Downing more than 60 Nathan's Famous franks and the accompanying buns adds up to more than 18,000 calories in just 10 minutes.
Eight-time hot dog eating champion, Joey Chestnut.
Over a dozen participants scarf down as many Nathan's Famous hot dogs and buns (HDB, in contest parlance) in 10 minutes as they possibly can. Chestnut's win marked his third in a row and the 10th in the last 11 years.
To get a sense of the effect that gustatory meteor left on Chestnut's body, we plugged his winning total into the mathematical search engine Wolfram Alpha. We entered 72 HDB and let Wolfram Alpha add up all the calories, grams of fat, and (yes) vitamin and minerals.
Here's what Chestnut consumed:
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On the bright side, the contestants won't eat any trans fats. On the other hand, someone who eats 72 HDB will consume more than 19,000 calories, 2.2 pounds of fat, 288 grams of sugar, and 46 grams of sodium. That's about 10 days worth of nutrition in 10 minutes.
Chestnut also put away 720 grams of protein and 700% of the average person's daily recommended calcium intake — though those are small consolations given the inevitable acid reflux.
In reality, competitive eaters train their bodies year-round to handle this kind of stress, and their stomachs are generally acclimated to expanding well past the normal limits. Physically, these eaters tend to be on the leaner side, since any excess body fat hinders how far the stomach can expand.
Given that they'll consume about the same number of hot dogs the average American eats in a year, they need all the room they can get.
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