A MAN ended up in the A&E after eating a 7lb (3kg) burger in a competitive speed-eating contest.
The 30-year-old scoffed down the whopper in just 30 minutes, not allowing his stomach enough time to digest it.
The man scoffed a massive burger during an eating contest[/caption]
CT scan of man’s torso, with his stomach on the right, was overfilled with food[/caption]
Over the next few hours, the man’s stomach started to bloat.
Before long he was vomiting undigested food and was in a lot of pain, according to a report published in the Journal Gastroenterology, back in 2018.
After rushing to a hospital in Singapore, doctors found his stomach was dangerously stretched, far beyond its normal 2.2 to 3.3 lb limit, and crushing his pancreas.
If the stomach stretches too much, it can block blood flow and cause a rupture, according to WebMD.
This lets stomach contents leak into the abdomen, causing infection, sepsis, and organ failure, which can be fatal without quick treatment.
A CT scan showed his stomach and upper intestine were packed with food and not moving properly.
Images of the scan went viral on X recently, racking up 4,800 likes and hundreds of comments.
One person said: “The person pretty much ate a newborn baby.”
“That’s insane!” agreed another user.
“That’s astoundingly bonkers,” another person added.
His condition worsened, and doctors at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital ran blood tests, which showed signs of severe stress on his body.
His white blood cell count was high, showing his body was really stressed, which usually happens when it’s fighting an infection.
The doctors tried flushing his stomach with a tube, but nothing seemed to help.
It got so bad that they nearly had to perform surgery to remove the food.
Thankfully, after five days in the hospital, his body finally started to recover.
He started passing gas, his blood tests improved, and eventually, he was able to move the food through his system.
Other bizarre cases – from the ‘folded boy’ to cape tumour removals
Read more about incredible procedures and medical marvels:
- Surgeons removed a watermelon-sized tumour growing off a man’s jaw, which started off as a “small pimple”
- Incredible scans show a woman’s brain tumour completely disappear just five days after she underwent a “revolutionary” new treatment
- A 43-year-old woman whose body was engulfed in thousands of bubble-like tumours underwent 60-hours of surgery for an astounding transformation
- A student dubbed the “folded boy” due to a debilitating spinal condition that twisted his body into a Z-shape is one step closer to standing straight after high risk surgeries to unfold his spine
- Surgeons removed a woman’s tumour that was growing like a cape down her back, leaving the smallest of scars
- A man stunned medics after he came back to life 50 minutes after his heart stopped
- Nine-month-old twins born fused at the scull were separated in a “marathon” 24-hour operation
After five days in the hospital, he was finally able to go home.
SERIOUS RISKS
Competitive eaters risk more than just a burst stomach.
They can suffer intestinal ruptures, tissue death, oesophagus damage, and even pneumonia if food or vomit enters the lungs instead of the stomach.
Doctors who treated the man said: “Competitive eaters are known to be able to accommodate large quantities of food particles within their flaccid stomach sac conditioned by repeated rapid distension of the gastric wall during their gobbling episodes.”
However, there was no evidence in the journal the man trained his stomach by overeating before the contest.
Japan is the birthplace of modern competitive eating, while South Korea made mukbang – eating huge meals on camera – famous.
The trend has spread across Asia and beyond.
Pan Xiaoting, from China, was known for broadcasting her marathon eating challenges, often eating for hours at a time.
She passed away last year after her stomach tore while livestreaming a 10-hour-long food binge.
