Assessment of Active Video Games' Energy Expenditure in Children with Overweight and Obesity and Differences by Gender.

Cristina Comeras-Chueca,Gabriel Lozano-Berges,Germán Vicente-Rodríguez,Marcos Pérez-Llera,Lorena Villalba-Heredia,José A Casajús,Ángel Matute-Llorente,Alejandro González-Agüero,Jorge Marín-Puyalto

doi:10.3390/ijerph17186714

Cristina Comeras-Chueca, Gabriel Lozano-Berges + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17186714

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Abstract

(1) Background: Childhood obesity has become a main global health problem and active video games (AVG) could be used to increase energy expenditure. The aim of this study was to investigate the energy expenditure during an AVG intervention combined with exercise, differentiating by gender. (2) Methods: A total of 45 children with overweight or obesity (19 girls) performed an AVG intervention combined with exercise. The AVG used were the Xbox Kinect, Nintendo Wii, dance mats, BKOOL cycling simulator, and Nintendo Switch. The energy expenditure was estimated from the heart rate recorded during the sessions and the data from the individual maximal tests. (3) Results: The mean energy expenditure was 315.1 kilocalories in a one-hour session. Participants spent the most energy on BKOOL, followed by Ring Fit Adventures, Dance Mats, Xbox Kinect, and the Nintendo Wii, with significant differences between BKOOL and the Nintendo Wii. Significant differences between boys and girls were found, but were partially due to the difference in weight, VO2max, and fat-free mass. (4) Conclusions: The energy expenditure with AVG combined with multi-component exercise was 5.68 kcal/min in boys and 4.66 kcal/min in girls with overweight and obesity. AVG could be an effective strategy to increase energy expenditure in children and adolescents with overweight and obesity.

Highlights

Obesity has become a main global health problem because of the alarming increase in its prevalence [1]
These differences in the energy expenditure expressed in kcal/min disappeared when VO2max and fat-free mas were introduced as covariates, except for Xbox Kinect, in which there may be other factors that can influence energy expenditure, such as enjoyment and motivation, which were not measured in this study
The results showed that children in both groups expended similar energy relative to their weight, and active video games (AVG) were able to elicit moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity for all children, potentially contributing to meet the recommended physical activity levels

Summary

Introduction

Obesity has become a main global health problem because of the alarming increase in its prevalence [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) even refers to obesity as a “global pandemic” [2,3]. Childhood obesity is considered an important public health issue of the 21st century [4,5], especially in developing countries and in developed countries, with a prevalence of. 18% of children and adolescents aged 5–19 with overweight or obesity in 2016 [6]. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 6714; doi:10.3390/ijerph17186714 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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