Bad news for Wii Fit curing childhood obesity.

Scott Owens, a researcher out in Mississippi decided to see what Wii Fit would do to family fitness so he loaned out 8 Wii Fits to 8 different families and was looking to see if it would help those families get more fit.

The study had two parts. 3 months where he studied the families' fitness levels before the introduction of the Wii Fit and 3 months post introduction. In so doing he used accelerometers, body composition analyses, aerobic capacity, and balance

What did he find?

In kids, while aerobic fitness did increase during the 3 months of Wii Fit, there were no changes to any other parameter.

More importantly, while initially a big hit in the homes, by the end of the 3 months the average family was only spending 4 minutes a day on the Wii Fit.

4 minutes a day sure ain't going to do much.

My advice? Buy a Wii for fun, go outside for fitness.

[Via ScienceDaily.com as the study has yet to be published]