Food challenge videos could distort perceptions of portion sizes and impact youth health

Experts warn that food challenge videos, while entertaining, may influence young viewers’ perceptions of normal portions, potentially fostering disordered eating habits and unhealthy dietary choices, prompting calls for caution among parents and caregivers.

Food challenge videos may look like harmless entertainment, but specialists say they can shape how viewers think about portion sizes, especially among younger audiences. The clips, which often feature creators eating extreme amounts of food or oversized dishes on camera, rely on spectacle, surprise and suspense to keep people watching. Flavia Marsola, a psychologist at Hospital Brasília Águas Claras, said that this kind of content is effective because it turns excess into something shareable and normalises behaviour that would otherwise seem unusual.

Marsola said the greater concern is not that a single video will cause a eating disorder, but that repeated exposure can blur a person’s sense of what a normal serving looks like. Children, teenagers and people already vulnerable to disordered eating may be more susceptible to that effect. Research on digital food content supports that concern: a study using data from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that many adolescents watch Mukbang and Cookbang videos regularly, and frequent viewing was linked to changes in dietary habits and mental health. Other reviews have suggested that screen-based eating content can encourage mindless eating, weaken self-regulation and push young people towards larger portions and more energy-dense foods.

At the same time, experts caution against overstating the risk. Marsola said that watching this type of content does not, by itself, cause compulsive eating. She noted that compulsive eating is a clinical condition with specific diagnostic features, including a sense of loss of control, and should not be reduced to an interest in online challenges. A separate analysis in Psychology Today also pointed to a more complicated picture, suggesting that short-term exposure to Mukbang may not be as damaging as once feared, even though it may affect mood and still requires further study.

For people who actually take part in food challenges, the physical demands can be significant. Ricardo Corbucci, a digital creator and competitive eater from Brasília, said he prepares with long fasts, a tightly controlled diet and regular training, along with medical monitoring by a gastroenterologist and a cardiologist. He said those precautions reduce, but do not remove, the risks. Manuela Dolinsky, president of Brazil’s Federal Council of Nutrition, warned that eating very large amounts in a short time can trigger abdominal distension, nausea, reflux and vomiting. When speed is involved, she said, the danger can be more serious, including choking, breathing difficulty and airway blockage.

That is why nutritionists urge viewers, especially parents and caregivers, to treat these videos with caution rather than curiosity alone. Studies on children and adolescents suggest that online food marketing and influencer-led food content can shape taste, appetite and food choices, while eating in front of screens can make it harder to notice hunger and fullness cues. The practical advice remains simple: eat slowly, pay attention to satiety and avoid turning extreme online behaviour into a model for everyday eating.