Dancing video game helps kids avoid weight gain

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) February 1, 2007 -- The state, which plans to put the popular dancing video game in every one of its public schools, said on Wednesday research suggested that it helped put a halt to weight gain.

Preliminary results from a 24-week study of 50 overweight or obese children, aged 7 to 12, showed that those who played the game at home for at least 30 minutes five days per week maintained their weight and saw a reduction in some risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.

The study's control group included a dozen children who did not play the game for the first 12 weeks, then did so for remainder of the study period. Those children piled on an average of 6 pounds during the first portion of the study but saw their weight stabilize in the second half.

Introduced as an arcade game in 1998, Dance Dance Revolution requires players to synchronize their movement to musical rhythms.

The West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency sponsored the research project, which primarily involved children of its policy holders.

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