So-called "butter mukbang" content — videos of people eating butter by the block or spread thickly on bread — has been spreading overseas. One British outlet reported that videos showing butter piled high with chocolate mousse or pasta sauce have racked up tens of millions of views, drawing a following on social media. As the rich flavor and smooth, melting texture come across on screen, more people are trying it themselves.
Copying a popular social media trend once or twice does not immediately cause health problems. But there is reason for caution when such content spreads like a fad, because it can gradually reshape eating habits themselves. Eating an entire block of butter affects the body very differently from adding a small amount. A single 250-gram block of butter fills about one and a half paper cups and contains roughly 1,860 calories — on par with an adult's daily calorie needs. It also holds about 130 grams of saturated fat, nine times the daily nutritional reference value of 15 grams set by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Repeatedly overconsuming such high-calorie, high-fat foods can lead to weight gain.
Added weight burdens the body in many places, and one of the most affected is the knee. A team at Wake Forest University in the United States tracked 142 overweight and obese adults with knee osteoarthritis over 18 months and found that losing 0.45 kilograms of body weight reduced the load on the knee with each step by about 1.8 kilograms. In other words, the more weight a person gains, the greater the burden the knee must bear while walking.
The strain on the knee is not limited to physical load. Research has also shown that repeatedly overconsuming saturated fat can cause inflammatory changes in joint tissue. In an animal study by a team at Queensland University of Technology in Australia, mice fed saturated fats such as palmitic acid and stearic acid for 16 weeks showed signs of metabolic syndrome along with damage to knee cartilage. There is also a suggestion that when weight gain increases fatty tissue, the secretion of inflammation-related substances such as leptin rises and may affect joint inflammation. According to food composition data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 100 grams of butter contains about 51 grams of saturated fat — of which about 21.7 grams is palmitic acid, about 10 grams is stearic acid and about 7.4 grams is myristic acid. Because a habit of overconsuming butter can harm not only body weight but also joint health, caution is warranted.
Rather than eating a large amount of butter at once, it is better to consume a moderate amount and to maintain a healthy weight through aerobic exercise and the like. Those who already have obesity along with knee pain should see medical professionals for an accurate diagnosis and undergo appropriate treatment. Most knee pain can improve even without surgery. In Korean medicine, integrative treatment is provided that includes acupuncture and pharmacopuncture.
There is also research demonstrating the effectiveness of acupuncture for knee pain. According to a study published in Frontiers in Medicine, an SCI(E)-indexed international journal, knee osteoarthritis patients who received acupuncture were about 3.5 times less likely to undergo knee surgery than those who did not. The average Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) pain score among patients who received acupuncture fell nearly by half, from 6.1 before treatment to 3.6 afterward. The NRS rates pain on a scale of 0 to 10, with higher numbers indicating more severe pain. The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) also improved, from 53.67 before treatment to 38.97 afterward. The WOMAC scores the difficulty in daily activities caused by knee pain and stiffness on a scale of 0 to 96, with higher scores meaning greater difficulty in everyday life.
Short videos on social media vividly show the taste and flavor of butter, but they do not reveal the calories and saturated fat inside. Tasting it once or twice out of curiosity is an entirely different matter from making it a habit. When overconsuming high-calorie foods leads to weight gain, the burden on the knee joints can also grow. The pleasure of eating is brief, but the effect of that choice on body weight and joint health can last a long time. Enjoying a trend while gauging what one's body can handle — that is the way to preserve the pleasure of healthy eating over the long term.
