DOH CONSIDERING BANNING “MUKBANG” VIDEOS FOR HEALTH REGULATIONS

A food content creator from Iligan died from stroke after doing a “mukbang” video last month of June (Photo courtesy of Dongz Apatan Facebook)

The Department of Health (DOH) is studying to ban “mukbang” as a content in vlogging in relation to the death of food content creator Dongz Apatan in Iligan due to stroke.

“The DOH wants to know if the death of the vlogger was indeed due to mukbang. There is a medical way to determine this. In case a connection is found, the DOH will look into what regulations can be implemented to avoid the alleged health risk,” Herbosa said.

“Mukbang” or eating too much food as vlog content, it refers to videos featuring a person or host consuming large quantities of food. The Department of Health is considering banning it because of the bad effects of “mukbang” on a person's health. 

According to Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa, vloggers can earn money without endangering their health.

“It’s a bad practice because people make content by overeating. Overeating is not healthy. It will lead to obesity. And obesity will lead to hypertension, heart conditions, non-communicable diseases, and even heart attacks,” he added.

For some “mukbang” content creators, although they understand the source of the DOH's call, they say that their “mukbang” is not only causing harm.

“I eat only once a day and practice low-carb eating. We are disciplined. It depends on discipline in how one eats, even for regular folk,” a food vlogger stated.

According to Herbosa, food vloggers are promoting unhealthy behavior to the Filipinos, he can propose banning “mukbang” local and even ask the DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) to stop the sites as it is like food pornography. 

Source: GMA Integrated News

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