An eating disorder with a difference
Now here’s a really weird story for you, about a German guy with a rather uncommon eating disorder.
In fact, a lot of people would wish that they had Heinz Asthoff’s problem – and no, I’m not talking about the death of his wife:
A German has been dubbed “the man with the bottomless stomach” as he binges on over 12,000 calories a day without gaining an ounce in weight. Heinz Asthoff was struck with an incurable hunger following the death of his wife 22 years ago. On any given day he will eat a 2.2lb chunk of leberkase meat loaf, 5lb of potatoes, a dozen eggs, a pint of mayonnaise, pizzas, chips and sometimes as many as 20 meat patties.
He has even been advised by his doctors not to give up his 40-a-day smoking habit because he would eat more. He is nearly six feet tall and weighs 15 stone. Doctors confess that they have no idea why his metabolism demands so much food.
After eating a 2lb chunk of meat he is hungry again 15 minutes later but tries to slow down his eating by smoking more. He lost his devoted wife, Minna, 22 years ago to cancer – the event, he says, which triggered his bizarre eating syndrome. His doctor Henning Huesch said: “He does not have especially high cholesterol, is not physically ill through eating, but is clearly addicted to it.”
So, in relative terms we are talking about a guy who could eat about ten Britneys a day and still be as thin as Victoria Beckham.
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