Researchers at the University of Buffalo have found there is at least some evidence of a link between playing video games and being fat. This may not come as startling news to some, but it is a rather important finding from a scientific study. The bigger news is that they think they may have a solution, and luckily for geeks it involves another box you plug into your TV!

The study measured the body mass index (BMI) of 70 boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 7. Each had a BMI that reached 75 percentile or higher for their age group and gender. The families of the children were given TV Allowance devices which measure individual family viewing of television through the use of personal access code. Each child watched television or played video games at least 14 hours a week prior to the study. (more…)

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Want your child to lose weight? Let them play a video game-assuming it’s the right video game. That’s the sort-of advice from a new study presented in the medical journal Pediatrics by the Mayo Clinic. The actual study gets ever so slightly more complicated. That’s science for you.

The new study measured 25 children, including 15 of normal weight and ten obese, while playing video games. Researchers found that sitting still watching TV or playing with a traditional controller caused kids to expand the exact same amount of energy. However, playing a title using a video camera interface, such as the Sony EyeToy, expanded three times as much energy. Obese children burned the most calories while playing the dance games at just over six times as many as sitting still. (more…)

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