Your stomach really CAN explode from eating too much – here’s how much you’d have to gobble at Thanksgiving to suffer the lethal problem
- Gastrointestinal perforation is the medical term for an exploded stomach
- The average stomach holds about a liter of food, but can stretch a bit
- READ MORE: Athletes reveal the junk food that keeps them going during a race
If there was ever a time to use the phrase, “I ate so much I might explode,” it’s Thanksgiving.
The average American consumes somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 calories during their Thanksgiving meal each year β about twice as much as the daily recommended limit.
For most people, the worst that can happen is that your pants are a little tight. But do some people eat such enormous quantities that their stomachs actually explode?
The answer is yes β or at least it’s certainly possible, according to experts.
The average American consumes somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 calories during their Thanksgiving meal each year β about twice as many as the daily recommended limit
The medical term for an exploded stomach is gastrointestinal perforation, which happens when the stomach becomes too full and ruptures.
A hole is formed through which stomach contents enter the abdominal cavity, which can lead to infections, including fatal sepsis.
The average stomach can hold about one liter of food, but can stretch to just over 128 floz at its maximum capacity (the equivalent of the largest bottle of milk).
For context, a large package of potato and leek soup (which is essentially liquid potato) weighs 32floz.
Courtney Kalamar, a dietitian at Piedmont Henry Hospital, said, βThe exact amount varies from person to person. But the average adult stomach holds about one liter of food (about four cups).
‘Because the stomach is very elastic, it can hold as much as three to four liters (or sixteen cups) at one time.’
Ms Kalamar explained: ‘It takes twenty minutes for your brain to register satiety and fullness.
“For some, by the time their brain registers that they are full, they have already eaten much more than they need to feel satisfied, and they feel full instead.”
However, “explode” is not a very accurate representation, Theresa Strong, director of research programs at the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research, told me. Newsweek.
The contents of the stomach would not burst like a water balloon.
Instead, the stomach wall extends to the point where it splits.
Ms Strong said: ‘The images that come to mind are quite sensational and not accurate: the stomach lining extends to the point where necrosis and/or rupture occurs.’
The Foundation for Prader-Willi Research advocates for people with Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic condition in which individuals have a dysfunctional hypothalamus β the part of the brain that regulates things like appetite β meaning they have a constant, insatiable hunger .
Prader-Willi patients will not have the instinct to vomit if they eat too much, as the average human body would.
Nevertheless, gastrointestinal perforation due to overeating is uncommon, says Mary Roach, science writer and author of Gulp Business insider
Even if you fool yourself this Thanksgiving, it’s highly unlikely you’ll experience a gastrointestinal perforation, also known as an exploded stomach.
This is because most people’s gag reflex kicks in when the organ is full, she explained.
People with binge eating disorder, bulimia, or other eating disorders may have manipulated their body’s natural signals for hunger, fullness, and vomiting so that they are no longer effective.
It may also be that their stomach muscles are too weak to vomit, or their stomach has shrunk so much that it could burst with less food.
A 17-year-old boy with Prader-Willi died on Christmas Eve in 2015 from rupturing his stomach when he ate too much at his family’s annual party. The New York Times Magazine reported.
And in 2003, ‘excessive overeating’ was cited as a cause of: A 49-year-old man’s stomach ruptureswhich led to his death.