A 24-year-old influencer tragically died on a 10-hour mukbang livestream from overeating.
Pan Xiaoting, from China, became popular by broadcasting her food challenges where she would eat for hours.
Local media reports that the content creator died on July 14 while live-streaming in front of followers.
Experts have now issued a grim warning to anyone considering participating in the mukbang trend, which shows no sign of slowing down.
Mukbang comes from the Korean word meokbang, which combines the Korean words for ‘eating’ (meongneun) and ‘broadcast’ (bangsong), per Qustudio.
The trend originated in South Korea in the late 2000s-10s and is characterized by people eating large quantities of food (think banquet-size portions) while streaming.
The mukbanger may film themselves preparing the food or ordering large amounts of takeout before they eat in front of an audience.
Usually, the person will eat in a messy and loud manner, which may lure more viewers due to the ASMR aspect.
There are numerous theories as to why it’s so popular, while some say it recreates the social aspect of dining, others are intrigued by the large quantities of food.
Local media reports that Xiaoting would challenge herself to eat for as long as 10 hours.
At one point, the content creator is believed to have been hospitalized when she suffered gastric bleeding due to her eating habits.
In her final livestream, Xiaoting reportedly devoured 10kg of food, which included chocolate, chicken fingers, and seafood, per The Sun.
According to Hankyung, the influencer’s stomach was ‘severely deformed’ and filled with undigested food.
This indicates her stomach may have burst, causing stomach acid and food to leak into her abdomen, reports the Daily Mail.
Xiaoting’s cause of death is believed to be ‘overeating.’
Following news of the influencer’s death, experts have spoken out.
Dr. Gareth Nye, a senior lecturer at Chester Medical School, tells the Daily Star that watching people gorge on unhealthy food could negatively impact the next generation.
The expert explains that there is a ‘wide variation of health risks associated with overeating.’
He says: “Extreme eating has some very specific dangers including basics such as nausea and vomiting as well as morbid obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
“You also have the risk of choking with food entering the wide pipe rather than the esophagus. In addition, there are unique conditions such as stomach perforation.”
Perforation of the stomach is a ‘full-thickness injury of the wall of the organ,’ per the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Andrew Harris, a senior lecturer of psychology at Nottingham Trent University, tells the Daily Mail that some studies have found that watching mukbang videos ‘may exacerbate loneliness by substituting deeper real-life social interactions with more superficial virtual ones.’
The expert adds that watching people indulge in unhealthy foods can reinforce harmful eating habits.
Mukbang binge-eating videos are illegal in China as part of the country’s campaign against food waste. Content creators may work around this by live-streaming.