Conspicuous consumption is what defines eating as a sport, and Nathan's — an enhanced hot dog joint in New York City — has a lock on the pastime, as contestants annually vie to be the one who stuffs the most cylindrical meat by-product receptacles down their gullet in just ten minutes.
The winner this year — and still champion — Joey "the Jaw" Chestnut consumed an eye-opening 72 weiners in just ten minutes on July 4.
But let's take a closer look at the constituent elements of all that gustatory gonzo.
By plugging the figures into scientific search engine Wolfram Alpha, the overworked reporting staff at the Business Insider were able to calculate just what kind of chemical compounds were being absorbed as a result of the win.
What you may not know is that the totals represent the amount of hot dogs typically eaten in one year by the average American male.
All that material has got to go somewhere.
That amount of food represents over 19,000 calories, 2.2 pounds of fat, 288 grams of sugar, and 46 grams of sodium, according to the Business Insider sleuths, or about a week and a half of ordinary nutrition.
While thinking of all that heart-stopping salt, also consider that hot dogs may be more famous for the ingredients that we are unaware of, than for that which we know.
Chestnut says that he trains year-round to be the best hot dog puncher, but, just before the big Nathan's 4th of July contest, he fasts for several days.
Those hot dogs go down quick.
