Physicians Practice - September 2008 - (Page 22) NOTE WORTHY ONE SIZE FITS ALL 64? A typical adult human stomach holds about a quart, expanding to a gallon or so for a Thanksgiving-sized meal. But we’ve done the math, and that’s still not big enough to accommodate 64 hot dogs — the amount Joey Chestnut ate on Independence Day to win the 93rd Annual Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island. Marc Levine, a radiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, noticed this anomaly, too, so he investigated. According to The Wall Street Journal’s health blog, Levine’s research concluded that the stomach-emptying speed of a pig-out pro is no faster than that of a “normal” person. Rather, an über-eater’s stomach expands like a balloon to accommodate whatever’s coming down the hatch. Little or no peristalsis occurs, which keeps the stomach muscle relaxed. Levine speculates that competitive eaters could eventually experience permanent effects, such as persistent nausea or vomiting. Nevertheless, Chestnut — who has also crushed the deep-fried asparagus-eating competition by consuming 8.8 pounds in 10 minutes (among many other feats) — does in fact seem to have the stomach for it thus far. UP IN SMOKE “I RECKON THIS WILL AVOID TENS OF MILLIONS OF DEATHS IN MY LIFETIME AND HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN MY KIDS’ LIFETIMES.” —British epidemiologist Richard Peto, in The New York Times, on the announcement by the foundations of Bill and Melinda Gates and Michael Bloomberg, that they plan to spend $500 billion on international antismoking campaigns.
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