Does New Study Make Exergaming Just Entertainment?
Lack of exercise no longer a problem?
According to a recent news release in Amsterdam, a research study presented at the European Congress on Obesity determined that food intake alone explains the increase in American body weight over the last thirty years. Professor Boyd Swinburn, Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention and Related Research and Chair in Population Health at Deakin University in Australia was quoted saying,
“There have been a lot of assumptions that both reduced physical activity and increased energy intake have been major drivers of the obesity epidemic. Until now, nobody has proposed how to quantify their relative contributions to the rise in obesity since the 1970s. This study demonstrates that the weight gain in the American population seems to be virtually all explained by eating more calories. It appears that changes in physical activity played a minimal role.”
There are many nutrition experts that disagree, citing potential flaws in the study including the interpretation of food supply data used and ignoring the fact that Americans are more likely to keep off weight if they change their diet and physical activity habits.
Will this have an impact on the exergaming industry?
We’ve heard from many individuals how exergames have changed their lives. But does this study make these people just lucky Wii fans? What does this mean for non-active games that are designed to change eating behaviors or focus on nutrition? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section.
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Hi Melanie
This study is very weak, based on “using national food supply data – the amount of food produced and imported, minus the amount exported, thrown away and used for animals or other non-human uses”
To say there is margin for error is an understatement!
Data from the UK Department of Health shows no calorific increase in the last 50 years and it’s the government’s own advice that suggest lack of activity is a major cause.
However, there’s nothing like good research to make the headlines… and this study is nothing like….
This is just one study, and as anyone academia and research knows, you can pretty much come up with a study that will support your hypothesis.
I agree with the other experts that increased kcal intake alone is NOT responsible for the obesity trends we’re seeing world-wide. Obesity is a multifactorial disease, so we need to look at a whole hosts of factors, and not how one is more important than the other.
With that said, I believe that the next wave of exergames will combine the nutrition and health learning into the exergaming play. From what I’ve read, GTA already does that (eat junk and your energy meter goes down). So why not teach kids nutrition thru the gameplay itself, and combine it with a physical active controller?
If we had those kinds of games, I predict that the adopt of games for health will see an increased utilization in the healthcare field and even get coverage from health insurance companies.
It’s a win-win for everyone…the doctor get’s their patient to comply with exercise via the exergame, the nutritionist gets their patient to learn more about making healthier nutrition choices, the parent sees their kid’s health improve, and the kid gets to play more videogames…with parent approval!
Will games for health and exergames solve our obesity problem? Not quite, but given the demographics and etiology of the disease, I believe games for health can have a major impact on turning this disease around before it’s too late. They predict that by 2048, ALL Americans will be overweight or obese, so the time bomb is ticking…I believe games for health can help save our country…and the world (because this is a world-wide disease now, not just a USA disease.)
@Ernie Medina – If there’s one thing I learned in graduate school, it’s that study manipulation is relatively easy to do, and often ignored. I’m glad that so many have responded the way they have in regards to this study. I hope you’re right about further adoption and dissemination of health games in the healthcare system. That’s something I would really like to see in the near future.
@Richard – I have to say that there’s also nothing like a bad research study to get people to start revealing the facts. All of the UK’s DH-based obesity programs also address both diet and physical: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Healthimprovement/Obesity/index.htm. It seems almost inconceivable that someone of Dr. Swinburn’s background would say that physical activity “should continue to be promoted because of its many other benefits…” implying that physical activity may have other benefits but no major effect on the obesity epidemic.
Sometimes we need to to pull waaaay back from our efforts to impact wellness, healthy weight and ample exercise via exergames and reflect on the awesome joy of movement and play. Great games engage us at every age. Active play options that get us moving energize us with endorphins, BDNF, fresh oxygen, agility, balance and power. Framing daily choices, important health-information opportunities and activity habits with fun is going to bring us toward health most easily. A study that analyzes via questionalble research puts a big bump in the road. Yet, our persistence and development of great games and active fun can make long term change and health ever more accessible to the 21st century pioneers. Go Ernie, Go Playnormous, go HealthGamers!!!