The British government is set to encourage children to play "active computer
games" to tackle the childhood obesity ‘epidemic’ in the country that costs the
exchequer billions of pounds every
year.

With authorities
desperately trying ever more imaginative ways to involve children in sports,
schools are being encouraged to put the new generation of "active computer
games" on the curriculum.

The
latest attempt to tackle the problem stems from an initiative in which Nintendo
Wii consoles were used to attract inactive pupils into "virtual
PE".

It was found that children
were attracted to the machine for their chance on the Wii, which requires users
to stand up and move their arms and legs to play games including tennis,
baseball, bowling and golf.

A
report in The British Medical Journal found that active console games
"significantly increased participants’ energy expenditure", compared with other
systems.

Britain is in the grip
of an obesity ‘epidemic’. Child obesity rates have trebled over the past 20
years; 10 per cent of six-year-olds and 17 per cent of 15-year-olds are now
considered obese, The Independent daily of Britain reported earlier this week.
Last year, a government report showed that this would rise to 26 per cent of
children by 2050.

Tackling the
obesity problem is set to cost the government tens of billions of pounds a year
by 2050. The government is in the final stages of a plan that envisages giving
the overweight financial incentives to maintain a healthy
lifestyle.

Via Times of India