“Games fuel obesity,” misreports The Sun

Posted May 20, 2011 by Lewis Denby in News.

There’s a small report in today’s issue of British tabloid The Sun that claims videogames can be responsible for obesity. But if you look at where this story came from, you quickly realise it’s bollocks.

The claim arrives off the back of a study by Canadian researchers, although the quote the paper uses is from Dr. Shelley McGuire of Washington State University, who said: “Virtual soccer affects food intake.”And nothing more.

The study sort of found that gamers consume an extra 1,200 calories per week. It’s a study that was reported by many outlets a couple of weeks back, but The Sun’s treatment of it is a little more suspect.

22 teenage boys participated in the study, which was part of a larger string of studies into what can cause us to feel hungry when we actually do not need to eat. This is an extremely small sample of a specific type of person. Researchers found that when the boys played a videogame for an hour, they were more hungry than had they just relaxed, and as such ate more – even though they weren’t burning those excess calories off.

The study’s leader, Dr. Jean-Philippe Chaput, had previously conducted the same experiment, except with those working on a computer instead of playing a games console. Similar results were recorded.

Not games’ fault

According to Chaput, this could be because activity in front of a PC or console can “trick the brain” into thinking your body has burnt off more calories than it really has, leading to feelings of hunger.

Chaput was even keen to point out that his study in no way suggested that videogames themselves were responsible for this phenomenon. “Obesity prevention is complex,” he remarked. “This is just one factor in the overall picture.”

But The Sun, evidently, has decided to ignore this crucial comment and blame it all on the games. ‘Cause, like, they’re games. Y’know? So they run with the headline “XL-BOX” and lead with the sentence “Video games fuel obesity.” That’s balanced reporting for you. Ignore the professionals; make shit up.

So who’s this Dr. Shelley McGuire person? Well, turns out this is all a bit misleading as well, The Sun’s article making it look like she was in some way responsible for the study. She wasn’t. She also is not a medical doctor. She has the title because she has a PhD in Human Nutrition from Cornell University. A PhD is a fine achievement, of course – it’s more than I have – but she is certainly not a medical doctor, nor is she in any particular position to comment on the subconscious effects of computers and videogames, and how these relate to the very complex methods by which we understand that we are hungry.

So yes, that’s that. On we go…

Tagged as British tabloid, health, The Sun