Here's how many hot dogs a person can eat in 10 minutes, scientists say

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Joey Chestnut broke a hot dog eating world record for when he downed 75 in 10 minutes at the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest over the Fourth of July weekend.

But one scientist thinks he could have eaten more.

Dr. Smoliga, a veterinarian and exercise scientist, who watched the virtual event from home in wake of the coronavirus pandemic, has for the past few months been developing a theory on how many hot dogs one person could technically eat in 10 minutes. The answer: 83.

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Smoliga, who is a professor at High Point University in North Carolina, published a full analysis that calculated that number based on nearly 40 years of data from Nathan’s contest. Plus, he used mathematical models of human performance that consider extreme athletic feats.

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The calculations show that when adjusted for body mass, professional hot dog eaters could haul down more than a grizzly bear or a coyote, measured by the amount of food per unit of time. The main factor in a person’s ability to eat many hot dogs at once is the stomach’s stretching capacity to accommodate a large amount of food, according to the data.