WASHINGTON– Active video games can not only help kids lose weight, they can be more effective than traditional gym classes when paired with counseling about food choices, a new study found.
The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, followed 75 overweight or obese kids, ages 8 through 12, for 16 weeks while they took part in weekly weight-management classes.
Some of the kids were also given an Xbox 360 Kinect video console and a couple of games. The games requires physical movements such as jumping and moving players’ body and arms, reports The Star Tribune, a Minneapolis newspaper.
The kids assigned to play games lost up to two times the body mass as the kids who went to traditional exercise classes.
This difference is not insignificant, according to researchers, even a minuscule difference in physical exercise can have valuable effect on health overtime, the study says.
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