Efecan Kultur, a 24-year-old TikTok star from Turkey, died in March 2025 from obesity-related health complications months after posting his final eating videos.
Kultur was a rising star on social media, boasting over 178K followers on TikTok and 2.7K subscribers on YouTube, where he posted clips of his everyday life, as well as videos showing himself eating extremely large amounts of food.
Such videos are termed ‘mukbang’ content, a Korean phrase that refers to one or more people filming themselves eating massive quantities of food to share with viewers online.
Kultur had amassed a steady and growing fandom thanks to his popular mukbang videos — but in March 2025, fans were shocked and saddened to learn that he had died.
Turkish mukbang star dies from health complications at 24
A post shared to his TikTok profile, titled ‘Our painful loss,’ announced that Kultur had died on March 7, with his funeral set to be held on March 8.
As per reports from Turkish news outlet Turkiye Today, the influencer’s death was a result of a mix of health issues caused by his weight gain.
Videos on Kultur’s TikTok page show the mukbang star relegated to his bed, with Turkiye Today reporting that he was unable to move without outside aid. He had been receiving medical treatment prior to his death.
At the time of writing, comments are turned off on Kultur’s Tiktok videos — but remarks underneath his YouTube uploads are full of netizens expressing their sadness and regret at the creator’s death.
“TikTok phenomenon, Efecan Kültür, who lived bedridden, passed away… May God have mercy on him and grant him a place in heaven,” one wrote.
“I wish he had read and listened to our comments, unfortunately it was too late,” another said. “…Anyway, it’s not up to us to talk big. May God have mercy on him.”
Kultur isn’t the only mukbang star to have died from their content; in July 2024, Chinese mukbang creator ‘Pan Xiaoting,’ also 24, died after overeating in the middle of a live broadcast.
Previously, Dexerto spoke with Lena Bakovic from Top Nutrition Coaching, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, about the rise of mukbang-style content and the risks it can pose to influencers’ health.
According to Bakovic, “Mukbang… has been correlated with harmful eating behaviors and disordered eating patterns in some clinical trials.”
”Although in most of these videos, the intent of the content appears to initially be harmless, it also demonstrates binge-eating style behaviors, which are well-known and recognized in the eating disorder community,” she told us.
Content shared from www.dexerto.com.