Reaction to WSJ's "Inside the Belly of Competitive Eating"

As the Annual Nathan's 4th of July Hot Dog Contest draws near, there are tons of articles, interviews, and videos are released. One particular article was "Inside the Belly of Competitive Eating" by Jacob Goldstein. Like any other article I have seen written, a lot of research conducted for these articles were typically done on people with normal appetites. There's always concern about health risks and diseases such as: diabetes, obesity, nausea, vomiting, etc. The research done by Marc Levine had said that the control subject, who was an unamed champion eater, never felt full anymore, and that if he was a representative for the other eaters out there, then there is a possibility the stomach would not return to normal size. I want to say Tim Janus was the one who participated in this study, but I haven't really looked into it.

ANYWAYS, Levine emphasized "that those risks were largely speculative -- but he said they couldn't be ruled out." I would have to agree with Juris "Dr. Bigtime" Shibayama, when it is completely speculative. I had recently written an application paper for my exercise physiology class, and instead of writing about the "negative" views on the world of competitive eating, I had tried to counter all the research and reactions from these "medical experts". Now, if you go to any library database and the world wide web, you will pretty much find that any article on overeating, stuffing your face, eating fast, and etc. that the test subjects were normal people who subjected to eating more than they normally would for a certain period of time (at most a month, from what I had found). While these "normal" subjects proved their speculations, it doesn't prove true for competitive eating. What these doctors don't realize is that in order for someone to continuously be able to eat these vast quantities of food, they have to train the mind, bodies, and stomach to go beyond their normal eating capacities and limits. A lot of people would believe that preparing and participation in competitive eating would make the athlete fat, but they are wrong. Many winners tend to have different body types and have proven that you have to be healthy in order to eat a lot. If people are not careful with their training prior to entering the world of competitive eating, they will possibly experience stress, loss of sleep, obesity, diabetes, stomach ulcers, and whatever illness that can be associated with excessive consumption of food.

What really is difficult is that the world is so influenced that competitive eating is such a bad thing and that all this food can be for third world countries and needy people. Why can't they also see that the International Federation of Competitive Eating/ Major League Eating actually does charity work and donates to various causes in relation to world hunger and food banks? It's such a shame that they refuse to see the positive side that may stem from this unique sport! All the risks are LARGELY SPECULATIVE <--- so until it is actually proven true, I say competitive eating should not be bashed! Why can't the public get off their high horse and stop saying bad things about competitive eating until they have actual facts that can prove supporters, such as myself, wrong!?