Imagine facing your worst fear – but it’s on your plate.
No, we are not talking about the reality TV show “Fear Factor”, where contestants eat gross, unsavoury things as part of a challenge to win prizes. An unusual trend has emerged on TikTok: the “fear food challenge”.
Claiming to help people with eating disorders, this involves an individual putting their courage to the test by randomly selecting a food item from a “fear food jar”. They then devour the foods they dread in front of a camera: often high-calorie items such as burgers, tacos, or chocolate bars.
To date, the hashtag #fearfoodchallenge has accumulated over 470 million views.
Fear of food, which results in restriction or avoidance of certain foods, is one of the signs of an eating disorder. Although these can occur at any age and affect any gender, they commonly begin in adolescents (10-19 years old) and young adults (up to 24 years).
People with medical conditions that affect appetite and digestion – for example, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease – as well as diabetes have a higher chance of developing eating disorders.
Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is often the first method of treatment. CBT involves cognitive restructuring or remediation, exploring beliefs, and managing mood symptoms.
Closely related to the fear food challenge is exposure-based therapy, a form of CBT that uses exposure and response prevention in a clinical setting. The “exposure” component practises confronting feared thoughts, images, objects, and situations. “Response prevention” refers to making a choice not to behave compulsively towards the fear.
A crucial part of therapy is guidance from a trained therapist, especially in the beginning stages, as treatment is structured to target intrapersonal (within the individual) and/or interpersonal factors and beliefs, alongside the management of mood-related symptoms.
While learning models support the potential usefulness of exposure-based therapy to reduce food fear, the TikTok videos are often filmed alone, or sometimes with a friend or a close confidant, but without any specially trained expert.
As such, the effect of filming fear food challenges can backfire to create more distressing episodes. For instance, viewers watching these videos might leave negative comments, potentially worsening the mental health of the person recording the video who is already struggling with an eating disorder.
Furthermore, research does not favour the use of social media in addressing eating disorders, as often there is a lack of components that focus on self criticism, self perception, self esteem, body image, and nutritional management – all of which are crucial for recovery.
True, the fear food challenge can be beneficial for learning about the experience of eating disorders. It can be seen as raising awareness about these conditions which, hopefully, increases empathy towards those who suffer from them.
However, proper media literacy skills are crucial for those who participate in the challenge, as well as those who view them.
Overall, the fear food challenge can be an inspiration for those who struggle with eating disorders as a starting point for exposure therapy. But recovery is more effective when done with adequate check-ins or monitoring by a qualified health professional.
This article was written by Dr Siew Li Teoh, a registered pharmacist and lecturer at the School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, for 360info.