Video Games Affect Teens' Eating Habits

After playing a video game, teenage boys consume more food, found in a study. The Canadian study involving 22 normal-weight teenagers found that the boys ate 163 more calories on the day they played video games and did not make up for this by burning more calories while gaming or eating less later in the day.

The study tested if video-gaming itself affects eating habits, said lead author Jean- Philippe Chaput, of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, Canada.

However, Chaput said the boys' self-ratings of hunger and levels of appetite hormones were not affected by playing video games.

Instead there could be a subtle 'mental-stress effect', with eating food potentially satisfying the brain's need for a 'reward'.

"Most of the food we would want would be sugary and fatty," the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.haput said although the extra 163 calories "sounds minor, if it is chronic, it could have a major effect over the years".

The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Source-ANI