End Of An Era - Legendary Competitive Eater Takeru Kobayashi Is Retiring, Claims He No Longer Feels Hungry Anymore

Bobby Bank. Getty Images.

[Source] - Takeru Kobayashi — the Japanese eating legend who won six consecutive Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contests is standing down from all future food challenges because he quite literally no longer has the hunger to compete.

The 46-year-old announced his retirement in the new Netflix documentary “Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut” after doctors discovered his brain had become repelled by highly-processed foods.

But in recent years, Kobayashi says his appetite started to wane and he now never feels hunger at all. He once went three days without eating.

“When you eat too much, you lose the ability to smell the food, and you also ignore signals from your body, such as feeling full,” he explained in the new Netflix doc.

In the movie, doctors analyzed brain scans, finding that when Kobayashi sees food, all areas of his brain related to nausea are activated.

A true end of an era here. You know the name Kobayashi because of competitive eating and the rivalry with Joey Chestnut. I mean you can't talk rivalries without the two of them. Bird/Magic, Brady/Manning, Ohio State/Michigan, Rico/Nadu and Chestnut/Kobayashi. People bonding over really just being the same sort of wired person. But now it's time to hang up the stomach. It's time to relax and eat like a normal human being. 

I gotta admit the whole thing sounds terrifying, but then again, what do you expect when you eat like this? 

Or when you have an eating contest against a goddamn bear. 

I know that your body should be fucked up after a life eating like that, but it's one I don't want to think about. The fact that you can go 3 days without eating or getting nauseous just seeing food? No thank you. I want to enjoy my dinner and all the deliciousness that comes with summer food starting here. It's almost fitting that the retirement comes with the kickoff of summer. Just know when you fire up the grill for the first time for those hot dogs, eat one for Kobayashi's legacy. 

One hell of a run from Kobayashi and it all ends now. Here's hoping he can enjoy a hot dog down the road.