A 24-year-old live streamer who suffered from binge eating has died while broadcasting a 10-hour eating binge consisting of cake, chicken strips and seafood to thousands of her followers.
Pan Xiaoting from China died last week from a suspected stomach tear while gorging herself on 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of food, which included what appeared to be a chocolate cake.
Autopsy results revealed that her stomach had been severely deformed and was filled with undigested food, suggesting that her stomach may have burst, causing stomach acid and food to leak into her abdomen.
Xiaoting, who was morbidly obese, became famous in China for her Mukbang livestreams, a trend that originated in South Korea in which people eat huge amounts of food, often very unhealthy foods, in front of a camera.
Now doctors are warning that Western influencers could be next, with several content creators in the US becoming extremely popular.
Pan Xiaoting from China died last week from a suspected stomach tear while gorging herself on 10kg (22lbs) of food, including what appeared to be a chocolate cake.
Pan Xiaoting reportedly livestreams her mukbangs to circumvent Chinese government ban on videos
Among the best-known content creators is Nicholas Perry, better known as Nikocado Avocado to his 3.8 million followers on YouTube.
The 32-year-old from Pennsylvania has become a multi-millionaire by filming himself eating ungodly amounts of food and documenting his weight gain journey in unhinged videos.
While he first started filming himself consuming large quantities of ramen or a stack of pancakes at IHOP in 2017, he now routinely eats upwards of 10,000 calories live on camera in videos with titles like “I Hate Myself, Goodbye YouTube and Life” and “Celebrating Our 700-Pound Milestone,” which features a friend.
He currently weighs approximately 350 pounds, having started his journey around 2016 weighing around 160 pounds.
Another YouTube sensation is Hungry Fat Chick, or Candy Godiva, who has become a fixture in the mukbang video scene with over 280,000 subscribers on YouTube. Her net worth is around $1 million.
Pan Xiaoting had recently suffered from stomach bleeding caused by the trauma of overeating.
She entertained fans by streaming herself live as she devoured huge plates of food that included seafood and cakes.
Dr Andrew Harris, a senior lecturer in psychology at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, said: “Mukbang videos focus on consumption and indulgence, potentially reinforcing a cycle of overeating or unhealthy food relationships.”
China has a blanket ban on mukbang videos, but hasn’t stopped content creators from livestreaming their marathons.
On July 14, Pan Xiaoting was live-streaming her 10-hour eating marathon when she fainted. Viewers tried to provide help from a distance, but it was not enough.
She had recently been hospitalized for stomach bleeding, though it is unclear how long ago she was discharged.
When he died, most of the food he had eaten had not yet been digested and remained in his stomach.
Having a history of stomach bleeding greatly increases your risk of experiencing other serious gastrointestinal problems in the future.
Details about his death from China are scarce, but there are several ways that consuming large amounts of food without stopping could kill someone.
Hungry Fat Chick, or Candy Godiva, has become a fixture on the mukbang video scene with over 280,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Eating too much food can cause the stomach to rupture or tear due to overstretching.
Eating a large amount of food can also cause the stomach to expand and distend, which can compress surrounding blood vessels and put pressure on the heart, increasing the risk of cardiac arrest.
It can also cause serious electrolyte imbalance, which can lead to serious cardiac effects.
The appeal of mukbang videos originally began as a way to make people feel less lonely, especially when eating alone.
Dr Harris said: ‘While some studies suggest that watching mukbang videos may alleviate feelings of loneliness by providing a sense of social connection or companionship, others indicate that excessive consumption of these videos may exacerbate loneliness by substituting deeper real-life social interactions for more superficial virtual ones.’
But it has since become a grotesque display of gluttony and self-harm, according to registered dietitian Katie Lopez.
She told DailyMail.com: ‘Sadly, this is another example of the glorification of self-harming behaviour.
‘More specifically, these individuals are at risk for gastric perforation, significant elevations of glucose and lipids, acid-base disorders, electrolyte shifts, dehydration, and heart rate abnormalities.’
According to Dr. Harris, watching people binge on unhealthy foods can reinforce unhealthy eating habits and the videos “focus on consumption and indulgence, potentially reinforcing a cycle of overeating or unhealthy food relationships.”
