(P13-041-24) Mukbang Video (Eating Show) Watching and Dietary Risk Factors in Korean Adolescents

Objectives: Studies have shown that prolonged smartphone use is positively associated with dietary risk factors, such as frequent intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages and fast food. However, little is known about whether the exposure to food-related digital media content, such as mukbang (eating show), is associated with dietary risk factors, independent of the duration of smartphone use. This study investigated the associations between the frequency of mukbang video watching and diet-related risk factors among Korean adolescents, using survey data represents the entire nation.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we examined data from 50,044 middle and high school students in the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey 2022. Participants reported their frequency of mukbang video watching, average duration of smartphone use on weekdays and weekends, days of skipping breakfast, and the frequency of night eating and intakes for various food categories such as fast food, sugar-sweetened beverages, milk, and caffeine drinks. We performed multivariable logistic regression, to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations between mukbang video watching and dietary risk factors, accounting for complex survey sampling and adjusting for potential confounders.

Results: Frequent mukbang video watching (≥5 times/week, compared to never watched mukbang videos in the past 12 months) was positively associated with prevalence of several dietary risk factors, including breakfast skipping (OR: 1.21; 95% CI: 1.14, 1.30), frequent nighttime eating (OR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.15, 1.32) and frequent intakes of caffeine drinks (OR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.15, 1.32), sugar-sweetened beverages (OR: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.24, 1.43), and fast-foods consumption (OR: 1.47; 95% CI: 1.37, 1.58). Milk intake was not associated (OR: 0.98; 95% CI:0.92, 1.05) Similar associations were observed in both boys and girls.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that frequent mukbang video watching is associated with some unhealthy dietary behaviors among Korean adolescents.

Funding Sources: BK21 Four Institute of Precision Public Health, National Research Foundation of Korea grants (RS-2023-00219289; NRF-2023S1A5C2A03095169)