The holidays are fast approaching and along with the good cheer the season brings is the good food that will inevitably bloat your stomach past its bursting point. But can you really eat so much that your stomach bursts?

The human stomach can hold about a gallon or three liters. Although it's extremely rare you can actually rupture your stomach. If you attempt to eat more than three liters of food or liquid then you are in danger of rupturing your stomach. There have been reports of people who ate too much that their stomachs ruptured which subsequently killed them.

Possibly the first recorded instance of a man eating himself to death was a Frenchman named E. Revilloid in 1885. Revilloid filled his stomach until it burst. Doctors found that the rupture threshold was about four quarts or three liters. Japanese doctors in 2003 reported that they believed a 49-year-old man's death was caused by a "spontaneous rupture" of the stomach. Ruptured stomach victims only last a few hours before they succumb to their injuries.

Of course eating yourself takes a long time and dedication to stuff your stomach past the breaking point. The more common victims of spontaneous stomach ruptures are those with eating disorders.

"Bulimics make up the preponderance of stomach rupture deaths recorded in medical literature, second only to dogs and followed closely by the mentally retarded," wrote Mary Roach, author of "Spook, Bonk and Packing for Mars" and "Stiff".

Bulimics have unusual eating habits that result in their bodies' reflexes not being able to respond normally. The stomach becomes too distended for the stomach muscles too vomit the food out. When bulimics no longer vomit, the food and fluid puts pressure on the stomach's walls and eventually the tissue bursts and sends the stomach content into the body.

Here's a final word of caution before you tuck in to your holiday dinners. If you think your stomach is nearing the three liter mark, do not drink sodium bicarbonate. A case study, reported in the December 1941 Annals of Surgery recounts a case of a 51-year-old woman who had binged on a meal of macaroni, meat balls, cheese, tomatoes, potatoes, bread, pie, three glasses of grape juice and several shots of whisky. She took a few teaspoons of sodium bicarbonate in water to relieve the "heavy feelings" in her abdomen. It was the final straw as the gas from the fizz stretched the stomach to its breaking point. She died after 14 hours.