Health systems around the world are struggling with the double threat of an ageing population and a rapidly changing technological landscape.  It’s prompting many to, at least publicly, declare a shift towards prevention rather than cure.

It’s likely, therefore, that obesity will be in the crosswire of most health professionals as they try and prod and cajole society to eat more healthily.

Gamifying our diet

I’ve touched on the use of games for more ‘serious’ ends a few times on this blog, and a recent study explored whether serious games can help us towards a healthier diet.

The game, which was called Squires Quest! II: Saving the Kingdom of Fivealot, provided a clear goal-setting framework that could be used to up the fruit and vegetable intake of fourth and fifth grade students.

The study saw around 400 children playing 10 episodes of the game, which is specifically designed to encourage greater fruit and vegetable consumption.  Each player was asked to keep a food diary during the duration of the exercise, and in particular whether they met the goals they set themselves during the game.

Parents of each child were also sent information, both about the goals of their children and some tips on how to incorporate more fresh produce into their meals, and even on how to overcome some common barriers to healthy eating.

Tracking progress

The progress of each child was measured both during the participation in the game, and also six months later to see whether their eating habits at breakfast, lunch and dinner had really changed.  When the numbers were crunched, they appeared to show that players had indeed upped their increase of fruit and vegetables as a result of playing the game.

“By using a serious video game, we saw increases in meal-specific vegetable intake at dinner for the children in the Action and Coping groups and fruit intake at breakfast, lunch, and snacks for all intervention groups,” the authors say.

In terms of numbers, some 79% of players revealed that they had met the goals they set for themselves during the game, with the researchers attributing much of this success to the engaging way the game was developed.  It was equally important to engage the parents with the process, and the frequent email communication played a big role in achieving this.

Suffice to say, this is just one study so it would be foolish to read too much into the findings, but they do nonetheless providing an interesting start point to explore further the use of games in the diet of a large group of people.  This can be especially important for young people who have the possibility both to create healthy habits for a lifetime, whilst also influencing the food their parents eat at mealtimes.