The death of a 24-year-old TikToker has reignited controversy around an internet extreme eating trend thought to have claimed several lives.
Efecan Kultur, from Turkey, amassed over 150,000 followers with videos wherein he gorged on huge amounts of food.
The worldwide trend – referred to as ‘mukbang’ – was popularised in South Korea within the 2010s and typically sees streamers eat enormous meals while interacting live with viewers.
Mukbang content has catapulted plenty of hosts to fame, often with enough income from views and sponsorships to make it a full-tiem job.
They include South Korean star Dona, whose channel has amassed 21 billion views, and Ukrainian-American Nikocado Avocado, who has around 10 billion views across YouTube and TikTok.
Kultur, who showcased Turkish cuisine, was hospitalised in December with obesity-related complications.
He reportedly lost the power to get up and suffered respiration problems and repeated bruising.
He was left bedridden and unable to breathe with no machine and died on March 7, based on local broadcaster Turkiye Today.
It follows two similar tragedies linked to mukbang content in other countries last 12 months.
In July, Chinese influencer Pan Xiaoting, also 24, died after her stomach tore during a challenge wherein she tried to eat 10kg of food over ten hours while streaming live.
The previous month, Filipino content creator Dongz Apatan, who shared mukbang videos with half one million Facebook followers, died aged 38 after attempting a challenge involving large amounts of fried chicken.
He suffered a cardiac arrest the day after the challenge and died from a stroke brought on by blood clots within the brain, based on local media.
His sister claimed her brother normally didn’t finish all of the food in his videos, adding that they didn’t reflect his regular food regimen.
A Filipino heart specialist blamed Mr Apatan’s death on his consistent consumption of very salty food.
The trend has been criticised for glamorising food waste and promoting dangerous eating habits.
Mukbang videos have been banned in China, with government leader Xi Jinping branding it a ‘distressing’ type of food waste.
A 2021 study published within the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction found a link between ‘problematic mukbang watching’ and eating disorders.
A survey of South Korean students found nearly a 3rd of those that repeatedly watched mukbang videos also had a self-diagnosed habit of excessive junk food intake.
Nikocado Avocado, whose real name is Nicholas Perry, has hit back on the trend, claiming his binge eating left him suffering erectile dysfunction, frequent diarrhoea, sleep problems and mobility issues.
In a video posted in September he revealed a drastically slimmed physique and claimed he had lost some 110kg since his peak.
He later said he needed to undergo a series of invasive surgical procedures to remove nearly 5kg of excess skin.
Some mukbangers have been criticised for allegedly spitting out food to create a misunderstanding of eating large portions.
But others have responded to controversies across the trend by stressing that such challenges can’t be safely accomplished.
India’s most-watched mukbanger, Ashifa ASMR, who has 720,000 YouTube subscribers, has since 2023 included disclaimers in her videos clarifying that her videos are shot across multiple sittings to avoid ‘health complications’.
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