The researchers tested the game's cardiorespiratory effects in 10 overweight and 12 normal-weight boys and girls aged 10 to 17. All played the game at its lowest-intensity "workout" mode.

The heavier kids used more oxygen and energy while playing the game than did their non-overweight peers.

But when the researchers adjusted for the effects of body size, they found the effects of the dance game were no more intense for the overweight children. And while the increases in heart rate observed were adequate for increasing cardiovascular fitness, the researchers note, the children's breathing intensity were not.

This disconnect might be due to the children not moving their upper bodies while playing the game, the investigators suggest. Therefore, if arm movements were added, the game might offer a more balanced workout.

Based on the findings, a person would have to play the dance video game for at least an hour and five minutes daily to lose weight, the authors note.

More study is needed, they conclude, to determine whether the dance video game could help overweight and obese adolescents lose weight and pare body fat.

SOURCE: International Journal of Sports Medicine, October 2006.

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

Lupin-enriched bread sticks to the ribs: study

Last Updated: 2006-11-20 14:45:20 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Bread enriched with seeds from the lupin plant can help people feel more full and eat less, Australian researchers report.

"These results suggest that protein and fiber enrichment of bread with lupin kernel flour has the potential to influence appetite and reduce energy intake, at least in the short term," Dr. Ya P. Lee of the University of Western Australia in Perth and colleagues write.

Lupin is the name for a family of plants that includes the Texas bluebonnet. In the current study, Lee and others investigated bread enriched with lupin kernel flour (LKF), which contains up to 45 percent protein and 30 percent fiber, with little sugar and starch.

In the first part of the study, 16 people ate either white bread or bread enriched with LKF in various combinations (lupin flour bread for breakfast and white bread for lunch or vice versa, or white bread for breakfast and lunch or LKF bread for both meals), each one week apart. Study participants rated both types of bread to be equally palatable.

People felt significantly more full after eating the lupin-enriched bread for breakfast, the researchers report, and ate fewer calories for lunch after an LKF bread breakfast.

Study participants also ate up to one-third fewer calories at lunch when the meal consisted of a LKF bread sandwich rather than a sandwich on white bread.

In the second part of the study, the team tested blood levels of ghrelin, an appetite-regulating hormone, before and after 17 people consumed either white bread or lupin-enriched bread. Three hours after the meal, ghrelin concentrations were significantly lower when study participants ate the lupin bread than when they consumed white bread, suggesting that they felt full for longer.

The researchers conclude that lupin kernel flour could be added to several different types of food to help improve appetite regulation.

SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, November 2006.

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.