Study Shows Kids Eat Less After Playing Angry Birds
Gamers always make poor nutritional choices and everybody loves Angry Birds, right? A recent study proves otherwise.
Nick Bellissimo, a professor of nutrition at Toronto's Ryerson University, has produced the findings of a study he did that show some games result in promoting good eating habits for its players, Polygon reports. Gamers are often stereotyped to make unhealthy menu choices on the regular.
Bellissimo's studio showed that boys consumed 50 less calories at mealtime after playing Angry Birds than they did at meals where they didn't play games before eating. The studio involved boys ages 9-14 with one half of the study group playing the game for 30 minutes and the other sitting quietly before eating. The food they provided during the study? Pizza, because they're studying nutrition.
"This finding is the first time anyone has shown that playing video games contributes to lower energy intake at the next meal," said Bellissimo. "If you're in a good mood and/or playing a video game, that seemed to keep kids from overeating at the next meal."
Just remember this research the next time you try to chug an energy drink and slingshot a bird into some piggies on your phone with your Cheetos-colored fingers. Or maybe, a game where birds have gotten chubby to the point where they can't fly, don't have any visible legs and are bowling ball-shaped end up throwing themselves at the houses of green pigs in a crazy suicide mission wouldn't encourage you to demolish your pizza lunch either.