A 24-year-old TikToker passed on and his death reignited controversy around an online extreme eating trend that has claimed several lives.
Efecan Kultur, from Turkey, amassed over 150,000 followers with videos in which he gorged on huge amounts of food.
The global trend – known as “mukbang” – was popularized in South Korea in the 2010s and typically sees content creators consume enormous meals while interacting live with viewers.
Kultur, who showcased Turkish cuisine, was hospitalized in December 2024 with obesity-related complications.
He reportedly lost the ability to stand up and suffered breathing problems and repeated bruising.
He was left bedridden and unable to breathe without a machine and d!ed on March 7, according to local broadcaster Turkiye Today.
It follows two similar tragedies linked to mukbang content in other countries last year.
In July, Chinese influencer Pan Xiaoting, also 24, died after her stomach tore during a challenge in which 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 a 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 caused by blood clots in the brain, according to local media.
His sister claimed her brother usually didn’t finish all the food in his videos, adding that they didn’t reflect his regular diet.
A Filipino heart specialist blamed Mr Apatan’s de@th 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’ form of food waste.
A 2021 study published in 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 third of those who regularly 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 at 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 had 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 false impression of eating large portions.
But others have responded to controversies around the trend by stressing that such challenges can’t be safely completed.
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”.
