Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jun 4;23(1):58.
doi: 10.1186/s12937-024-00961-1.

Association between watching eating shows and unhealthy food consumption in Korean adolescents

Min Jeong Joo  1   2 , Dan Bi Kim  1   2 , Jisu Ko  1   2 , Jae Hyeok Lim  1   2 , Eun-Cheol Park  2   3 , Jaeyong Shin  4   5
Affiliations

Association between watching eating shows and unhealthy food consumption in Korean adolescents

Min Jeong Joo et al. Nutr J. .

Abstract

Background: Eating habits formed during adolescence greatly influence the maintenance of health in adulthood. With the recent development of social media and easy access to the Internet, adolescents watch plenty of food videos, particularly Mukbang and Cookbnag(eating show)content. This media genre's impact on food choices has been covered in several studies; however, studies on unhealthy eating habits directly related to adolescents' exposure to eating shows are insufficient.

Methods: For this study, we used data from the 18th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted in 2022 and finalized 50,451 participants. The extent of exposure to eating show media over the course of a week, as well as the consumption of fast food, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), and high caffeinated beverages within that week were measured through self-reporting questionnaires. We classified the participants into two groups based on their frequency of watching eating shows. A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between eating show and unhealthy food consumption.

Results: For both males and females, eating show exposure was strongly associated with the consumption of fast food (male: OR:1.37, 95% CI:1.26-1.49; female: OR:1.46, 95% CI:1.36-1.57), SSB (male: OR:1.42, 95% CI:1.26-1.60; female: OR:1.51, 95% CI:1.35-1.70), and high caffeinated beverage (male: OR:1.30, 95% CI:1.23-1.37; female: OR:1.24, 95% CI:1.18-1.31). It was observed that both sexes were more likely to frequently eat unhealthy food than students who did not watch eating shows.

Conclusion: Among Korean adolescents, students exposed to eating shows, which primarily aim to entertain, were more likely to consume fast food, SSBs, and high caffeinated beverages. Therefore, this study's findings suggest that eating show could influence adolescents' food choices, highlighting the need for interest in emerging cultures and corresponding health policies.

Keywords: Cookbang; Eating show; Fast food consumption; High caffeinated beverages; Mukbang; South Korean adolescents; Sugar-sweetened beverages; Unhealthy eating habits.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Association between eating show and each component of unhealthy food consumption
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Coulson NS, Eiser C, Eiser JR. Nutrition education in the national curriculum. Health Educ J. 1998;57:81–88. doi: 10.1177/001789699805700109. - DOI
    1. Bugge AB. Lovin’ it? Food Cult Soc. 2011;14:71–89. doi: 10.2752/175174411X12810842291236. - DOI
    1. Askari Majabadi H, Solhi M, Montazeri A, Shojaeizadeh D, Nejat S, Khalajabadi Farahani F, Djazayeri A. Factors influencing fast-food consumption among adolescents in Tehran: a qualitative study. Iran Red Crescent Med J. 2016;18:e23890. doi: 10.5812/ircmj.23890. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bucher Della Torre S, Keller A, Laure Depeyre J, Kruseman M. Sugar-sweetened beverages and obesity risk in children and adolescents: a systematic analysis on how methodological quality may influence conclusions. J Acad Nutr Dietetics. 2016;116:638–659. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2015.05.020. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Schwingshackl L, Schwedhelm C, Hoffmann G, Knüppel S, Iqbal K, Andriolo V, Bechthold A, Schlesinger S, Boeing H. Food groups and risk of hypertension: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies. Adv Nutr. 2017;8:793–803. doi: 10.3945/an.117.017178. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources