More frequent viewing of mukbangs or cookbangs -- online videos of people eating or cooking -- may be linked to increases in patient-reported oral health problems, according to a study published on August 9 in SSM – Population Health.
Part of this correlation was attributable to drinking sugary beverages and late-night snacking, the authors wrote.
“These findings identify the digital food environment as a candidate structural target for adolescent oral-health policy, and supply the population-level evidence whose absence has hitherto constrained policy debate in this area,” wrote author Seon-Jip Kim, PhD, of the department of dental hygiene at Dankook University in the Republic of Korea.
Approximately two-thirds of adolescents view mukbang content, an online video trend where the participant eats large amounts of food while talking to viewers, and cookbang, an online video in which the host cooks food before eating it. Additionally, 1 in 9 adolescents view these types of videos almost daily, according to the study.
Though this content, which originated in South Korea but has spread globally, reaches adolescents daily, its implications for dental health remain unknown. To explore potential associations, a cross-sectional study that included data from 106,005 Korean adolescents were analyzed.
Logistic regression models were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for the self-reported symptoms of toothache and gingival pain/bleeding. Natural direct and indirect effects were explored based on sugary beverage consumption, late-night snacking, and fast-food intake.
Researchers classified viewing frequency as not watching content (32.2%), less than or equal to three times per month (30%), one to four times per week (26%), and greater than or equal to five times per week (11%). About 67% had watched mukbangs or cookbangs in the preceding 12 months, according to the study.
In a dose-response pattern, viewing frequency was linked to toothache and gingival pain and bleeding. When comparing greater than or equal to five times per week to no watching, aORs were 1.21 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14 to 1.28) for toothache and 1.22 (1.15 to 1.30) for gingival pain/bleeding (p < 0.001), the authors wrote.
Considerable indirect effects were seen in relation to sugary beverage consumption and late-night snacking, accounting for 29% of the total correlation with toothache and 18% for gingival symptoms. But there was no association with fast-food consumption, they wrote.
However, the study was not without limitations, including the cross-sectional design, which precluded causal inference, the authors wrote.
“Given that most adolescents are exposed and one in nine views this content near-daily, even modest individual-level associations imply an appreciable population burden,” Kim wrote.
