Hot dog swallowing champions will now know the limits: a human cannot swallow more than 84 in ten minutes. Because there are now very serious calculations on this issue.
A physiology professor, a specialist in sports performance, once wondered if the models developed for athletic competitions could also be applied to the Nathan's hot dog swallowing competition, organized every year for more than 100 years. At New York.
And if a gut could train, like you train your muscles.
Professor James Smoliga, whose study appeared in the journal Biology Letters (link in English), therefore recovered data from the "Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest" - of which he is a fan - over 39 years to submit them to a statistical program, looking for a progression diagram. And there was one.
“The records have improved by almost 700% over the years, which is huge compared to any sporting event! Commented this researcher at High Point University in the United States.
By combining the results of his calculations with knowledge of human intestinal plasticity, he managed to calculate the maximum rate of consumption: 84 hot dogs in ten minutes, 10 more than the current record (and more than 21,000 calories).
Modeling of performance over 5 years also shows that the maximum rate of consumption of "fresh material" increases over the years among competitors, as they train. To facilitate ingestion, candidates also dip the brioche bread in water to soften it, and contort to improve their transit.
"We can see these candidates as a symbol of gluttony, but in reality the functioning of their digestive system is different, which is clearly linked to their training - even if it is possible that they have an inherent physiological capacity", according to Professor Smoliga.
This intestinal feat is certainly not within everyone's reach and "it is unlikely that a" normal "person will be able to eat more than 10" of these sausage sandwiches in ten minutes, says the study. .
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