By Ishita Srivastava, Dailymail.Com
Updated May 25, 2024 14:50, May 25, 2024 14:55
Six-time Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest winner Takeru Kobayashi has retired from the eating world after a major health scare.
The 46-year-old Japanese athlete began his career in 2000 when he appeared on variety show “TV Champion” and ate 16 bowls of ramen in one hour.
He also won the Mustard Yellow Belt in the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest from 2001 to 2006.
But now, after eating an estimated 10,000 hot dogs during his 20-year career, Kobayashi has announced his retirement in the Netflix documentary “Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut.”
“You hear people say they’re hungry, but then they eat and look so happy,” he said on the show.
“I envy those people because I don’t feel hungry anymore. Ever since I started this job, I’ve been thinking about the damage I’ve done to my body.”
Kobayashi’s wife, Maggie James, also said his husband could go for days without eating.
‘[He] “I think he might have broken down. He doesn’t feel hungry, he doesn’t feel full, he doesn’t feel anything like that,” she explained.
The trailer also shows Kobayashi undergoing an MRI scan and expressing concern about his loss of appetite, weakened sense of smell and lack of fiber intake.
He later revealed that while tests on his gut microbiome looked fine, the results of his brain scans were worrying.
Doctors concluded that Kobayashi’s chronic overeating affected her nervous system, tricking her brain into thinking she was constantly competing or eating highly processed foods.
“I have decided to retire from competitive eating. It’s what I’ve been doing for the past 20 years. I’m nervous about what my next step will be, but also excited about the future. I have mixed emotions,” Kobayashi said in a statement.
He added that he still loves hot dogs and plans to “make healthier hot dogs by combining them with healthy Japanese ingredients” after he retires.