Heart group and Nintendo Starts an Obesity Campaign

Key points
- The American Heart Association and Nintendo Co. are reported to be fastening their belts to promote the popular Wii video game console, as the health advocacy group posts that its campaign for traditional exercise has failed.
- "We can keep beating the drum on traditional exercise and make small changes to the obesity epidemic, or we can try something that is really provocative and new," Clyde Yancy, the AHA's President, said in an interview.
- The conglomeration, announced Monday, emerges amid growing concern related to obesity among kids who spend much of their time watching television and playing video games.
- Nintendo is revealed to donate $1.5 million to the Dallas-based AHA as part of the partnership.
The American Heart Association and Nintendo Co. are reported to be fastening their belts to promote the popular Wii video game console, as the health advocacy group posts that its campaign for traditional exercise has failed.
"We can keep beating the drum on traditional exercise and make small changes to the obesity epidemic, or we can try something that is really provocative and new," Clyde Yancy, the AHA's President, said in an interview.
The conglomeration, announced Monday, emerges amid growing concern related to obesity among kids who spend much of their time watching television and playing video games.
Nintendo is revealed to donate $1.5 million to the Dallas-based AHA as part of the partnership.
Nintendo's Wii Fit gaming system stands against the conventional wisdom with regard to video games. The exercise game consists of activities that will assist in losing weight and have fun from the comfort of your living room.
It includes a special "balance board" that senses the position of the player when gaming apart from assessing the player's body mass index (BMI). Its launch witnessed huge backing by an ad campaign demonstrating people keeping fit.
Wii’s competing game console giants Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp., cognizant of the Wii's soaring popularity, are also manufacturing motion controllers.
--
Submitted by Ketan Mukherjee
topnews.net.nz
Written and revised by
David Cohen, M.D.
Our doctors write and review articles for accuracy and keep them up to date.
health.am provides general information, not medical advice. Always consult a qualified health professional about your own health.
Explore health topics
More in this topic
Weight & Nutrition →
GuideChildhood obesity leads to enlarged heart
Obese children grow up to have bigger left ventricles in their hearts, putting them at risk for heart disease, researchers said on Monday. "Simply being obese means your heart has to work harder, even in childhood,"…
24 November 2004
NewsCompany to test obesity/smoking pill for heart disease
Not content with having a drug that might merely fight obesity and smoking, the company developing this eagerly anticipated pill will soon launch studies to see if it can treat and prevent clogged arteries and heart…
22 November 2004
NewsObesity as unhealthy as heart failure -study
Very obese people are as unhealthy, and probably as likely to die, as patients with heart failure, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday. A second study presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association in New…



