By JOE VELARDE
Scripps Howard News Service
Thursday, September 20, 2007
With childhood obesity ballooning in the United States, researchers are looking everywhere for solutions -- even toward the Internet and video games, which have been maligned by many for contributing to the crisis.
HopeLab, a California-based non-profit organization focused on child health, launched a Web site this week, www.ruckusnation.com, where Web surfers can submit innovative ways to encourage healthy living and boost physical activity in children. Up to $300,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded for the best ideas.
Emily Murphy, research instructor for the department of pediatrics at West Virginia University, says that video games such as the DDR, which has players mimic dance moves, actually work to increase physical activity.
According to a study conducted earlier this year by Murphy, children in the 85th percentile of body mass index improved their general health and reduced their risks of certain long-term adulthood illnesses, such as diabetes, simply by playing DDR for 30 minutes a day, five days a week for 24 weeks.