The Effectiveness of Mukbang in Helping Children With Cancer Hospitalized for Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy to Improve Appetite, Nutritional Status and Quality of Life: A Randomized Control Trial

Cancer has a high incidence among children and adolescents worldwide. In October 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) released an overview of the Global Action on Childhood Cancer which showed that more than 400,000 children under the age of 19 were diagnosed with cancer worldwide every year. With the development and progress of diagnosis and treatment technology, the health outcome of children with cancer has been greatly improved.

However, the side effects and complications associated with cancer and its treatment can seriously affect the appetite and food intake of children with cancer, resulting in malnutrition and a low quality of life. Therefore, it is very important to effectively improve the appetite of children with cancer during treatment.

Clinical methods to improve the appetite of cancer patients mainly include drugs, diet or nutrition intervention, traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, but each intervention has its own advantages and disadvantages which makes the clinical application effect difficult to evaluate, in urgent need of more effective solutions to solve this problem.

Mukbang has shown great potential in helping children with cancer to improve their appetite and food consumption, finally promote nutritional health. What's more, the features of Mukbang, such as high-quality and clear pictures, relaxed atmosphere created by the video makers, sounds while eating, and attractive images of food, may promote viewers' appetite and increase their intake imperceptibly. In addition to that, watching Mukbang while eating can also provide a pleasant eating experience for children with cancer, and the interaction with the Mukbang anchor can also alleviate the loneliness of children who live in hospital for such a long time, so as to enhance the children's taste experience, relieve the negative emotions of loneliness and depression.

Research has found that Mukbang can help people with low appetites increase their food intake and the interest in food. Several studies have shown that videos containing food cues can increase viewers' appetite and decrease feelings of satiety to a certain extent. At the same time, Mukbang can also increase viewers' taste experience on the basis of physics and improve children's interest in food. Thus, Mukbang is a useful tool for those who are struggling to increase the amount and variety of acceptable foods and gain weight. It also suggests that clinicians who treat eating disorders should be aware that Mukbang is a potential factor in their illness, and that effective positive use may be helpful for patients with anorexia or restrictive eating.