Increasing epidemic proportions of overweight children in the United States presents formidable challenges for education and healthcare. Given the popularity and pervasiveness of video gaming culture in North American children, the perfect opportunity arises to investigate the potential of video games to promote healthful behaviour. Our objective was to systematically review the literature for possible benefits of active and educational video games targeting diet and physical activity in children. A review of English-language journal articles from 1998 to 2011 using EMBASE and PubMed was conducted. Thirty-four studies concerned with children, video games, physical, and/or nutritional outcomes were included. Results of these studies that showed some benefit (increased physical activity and nutritional knowledge as a result of gaming) demonstrate the possibility of video games to combat childhood obesity—looking beyond the stigma attached to gaming. 1. Introduction Overweight or obesity among American children has reached epidemic proportions [1]. Over the past 25 years, childhood overweight or obesity has nearly quadrupled in the United States, affecting almost 17% of children and adolescents aged 2–19 in 2007-2008 [2, 3]. Childhood overweight or obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) greater or equal to the age- and sex-specific 95th percentile of the 2000 Centre for Disease Control growth charts [3]. Overweight-obese youth are increasingly suffering from comorbid conditions once considered limited to adults [4]. Despite considerable efforts to halt or reverse the growing rates of childhood overweight or obesity, the incidence continues to escalate. Paediatric overweight or obesity has been implicated in a myriad of serious health concerns. Short-term consequences of overweight-obese status include chronic orthopedic and psychological disorders, nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases, metabolic syndrome, as well as a host of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and Type II diabetes mellitus [5, 6]. Long-term consequences have proven the persistence of childhood obesity into adulthood, with an estimated 50% of obese adolescents becoming obese adults [6]. This persistence into adulthood incites a cascade of cardiovascular risk factors and other chronic morbidities, dramatically increasing the risk for premature mortality [5]. The economic burden of overweight and obesity on the American healthcare system is expected to intensify with persevering rates of childhood overweight and obesity [7]. Physical activity and diet are important in the
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