Competitive Eating Legend Kobayashi Calls It A Career Over Health Concerns

One of the competitive eating greats — Takeru Kobayashi — is calling it a career to focus on his health, which, after a career spent putting away more hot dogs than Michael Moore on Dollar Dog Night, is probably smart.

The 46-year-old from Japan, who won six straight Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contests from 2001 to 2006, announced that he was calling it a career in a new Netflix documentary titled, Hack Your Health: The Secrets Of Your Gut. Kobayashi revealed that years of eating absurd amounts of processed foods had an adverse effect on his health, but not in the way you might be thinking.

According to The New York Post, doctors found that Kobayashi’s brain had become “repelled by processed foods.”

See? It’s not just football that can mess up the ol’ noggin.

“For the past 20 years, I have been in this field,” Kobayashi said. “I worry about the consequences of my decision, but most importantly, I want to repair my brain and gut.”

Good for him for voicing his concern but only doing so after locking up records for the grilled cheese sandwiches eaten in one minute (13), lobster rolls eaten in ten minutes (41), and a cheesesteak speed record in which he downed one in under 25 seconds.

He explained that eating the way you have been eating for more than 20 years can have certain physiological effects.

“When you eat too much, you lose your ability to smell food and start ignoring your body’s signals such as satiety,” he said.

Actually, that sounds like a competitive eating benefit, but if you want to live into your mid-50s, it’s probably best to make a change, and that’s what Kobayashi is doing.

Now, we’re big fans of Kobayashi’s biggest rival, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, around these parts. Still, it’s hard to underestimate the importance of Kobayashi making sure to watch the Nathan’s Fourth of July hot dog eating contest before passing out in a coma with three dogs, a pasta salad, and a few beers.