Videogames will turn you into a hopeless glutton, according to a new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition - or at least that’s what the media seems to be implying. As usual, the media’s interpretation doesn’t quite match the study’s findings.
“When we play video games, yes, we burn few calories, but we also eat more,” says kinesiologist Dr. Jean-Philippe Chaput, lead author of the study. Chaput recruited 22 young men and divided them into two groups. One would play games for an hour, while the control subjects would sit in a chair doing nothing for an hour. Afterwards, the subjects ate pasta. Those who played games ate on average 80 calories more.
The dubious science begins when the media use the study to argue that video games cause weight gain…
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