"This Act Led to Death"... Chinese Influencer with 1 Million Followers Dies After Eating 60-70 Duck Eggs in Mukbang

Hospitalized for Hypokalemia Before Death
Mentioned: "Health Comes Before Money"

A famous Chinese influencer who gained widespread recognition for her mukbang videos featuring preserved duck eggs has suddenly passed away. Three days before her death, she revealed that she had been hospitalized with hypokalemia and left a message saying, "Health comes before money."

Chinese famous mukbang creator Ganpan Yingying passed away on the 17th of last month. Ganpan Yingying SNS

According to Chinese media outlets such as Huanqiu.com on September 8, the parents of mukbang influencer "Ganpan Yingying" (real name: Chen Ziyi) announced via social media on September 4 that their daughter had died on the 17th of the previous month.

Born in 2002, Chen was a mukbang influencer with more than one million followers on her social media accounts. She built her presence by introducing and eating various foods in her videos.

In her final video uploaded on August 14, three days before her death, Chen explained, "After repeatedly eating large quantities, my potassium levels dropped and I was hospitalized with hypokalemia." She said that her blood potassium concentration had fallen to as low as 2.3 mmol/L and indicated that the mukbang activities had contributed to her condition. She also advised, "Earning money is important, but health always comes first."

Chen stated that this was not her first hospitalization for hypokalemia. She admitted that her longtime practice of self-induced vomiting during her mukbang activities was closely linked to her hypokalemic state.

She also spoke about the difficulties she faced while selling food products during her live broadcasts. For instance, when promoting preserved duck eggs (pidan), she had to eat 60 to 70 eggs during a single live session, and when selling other products, she had to eat continuously as well. She added that the more she ate, the better the broadcast effect, but her body sometimes could not cope with it.

The obituary released by her parents did not mention a specific cause of death. However, one acquaintance claiming to be close to Chen suggested that she had been hypokalemic for a long time and that this may have caused cardiac arrest.

Continuous Eating but Potassium Deficient? ...Caused by Repetitive Vomiting and Diarrhea

Dr. Cai Qichen, Deputy Director of Family Medicine at Zhejiang Hospital in China, explained that merely eating large quantities of food is not a direct cause of rapid drops in blood potassium levels. Instead, he drew attention to the repetitive vomiting and induced diarrhea that can occur during mukbang activities. To maintain their physique while eating large amounts, some influencers may induce vomiting or use laxatives to expel food after filming.

Dr. Cai noted that gastric juice and intestinal fluids also contain potassium, so if vomiting or diarrhea is repeated, excessive amounts of potassium may be lost along with digestive fluids, resulting in a decrease in blood potassium levels.

Early Symptoms Include Weakness in the Legs... Severe Cases Can Lead to Respiratory Muscle Paralysis or Cardiac Arrest

Early symptoms of hypokalemia are similar to general fatigue, so they may go unnoticed. Dr. Cai pointed to weakness in the legs as a typical early sign. One might find it difficult to lift their feet when walking, experience weakness in the legs when climbing stairs, or feel like collapsing when standing for long periods of time.

He explained that such symptoms are sometimes mistaken for simple fatigue, lack of sleep, or aging, and so people do not get tested. He further warned that if muscle weakness spreads from the legs to the torso, arms, and respiratory muscles, it can lead to difficulty breathing.

Dr. Cai cautioned, "In particular, acute hypokalemia can cause abnormalities in the heart's electrical activity, increasing the risk of sudden death."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.