What are the health issues involved with competitive eating and what is an eaters body like?

According to William Chey of the University of Michigan, an average stomach will feel full after 6 hot dogs, which equals somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 liters of meat and bread. Over 50+ hot dogs (the record now stands at 53.5) equals almost 3 GALLONS of food, about 10.5 more liters than the stomach feels it can take. Another concern is the amount of calories taken in during the short (12 minutes) period of time. The damage that can be done ranges from rupturing the stomach, to irritating the esophagus, and even creating acid reflux, which sends stomach acid up the throat.
Other health related problems at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, which will once again be aired on ESPN, are overcoming the gag reflex and choking. It is interesting, however, that in a country where obesity ravages, it is not a problem in the gorging sport of competitive eating. In fact, the eaters are getting smaller, and according to Joey Chestnut, this is because he has never watched his weight more closely. Chestnut, who won second place in last years contest by consuming 50 dogs, even dwarfs the 5'5" 100 pound Sonya Thomas, as he stands 6'1" 200 pounds.
Because all eaters dread the "Wall," or point at which their body feels it will reject food, they have many ways of training and expanding their stomachs. Competitive eater Don Lerman claims to chug gallons of liquid daily before contests, while others choose to guzzle foods like cabbage. In between contests, Lerman does frequent exercising and dieting to keep his weight down, because he said if he didn't he'd be "as big as a house."
Many eaters have a theory called "the belt of fat." The theory states that weight on the abdomen will help the stomach getting bigger, and they suppose that thinner eaters have more room for expansion. Even fit eaters like marathon running "Crazy Legs" Conti claim that they can't expand like the petite Thomas.
A 2006 article from Science Daily suggests that eaters can eat so much by suppressing the hormones that tell the brain when their stomach is full. Many doctors believe this fact, but they wish eaters would concentrate more on the gastric diseases, which can occur when you succeed your bodies limit.

Sources:
usatoday.com
washingtonpost.com
sciencedaily.com