Health Highlights: Dec. 23, 2007

There's no evidence that Nintendo's Wii sports games can help prevent weight gain in children, according to researchers at Liverpool John Moores University in England.

Using a wireless controller, Wii users move their bodies while playing games such as bowling, boxing and tennis. While many people believe this helps burn calories, this study found only a minimal effect,Agence France-Pressereported.

The researchers monitored energy expenditure in six boys and five girls, ages 13 to 15, while they played the Wii games and conventional, sedentary video games. The study found that the children used 51 percent more energy while playing the Wii sports games compared to the sedentary games.

However, the children burned only 60 calories per hour (about one-quarter of a Mars bar) while playing the Wii sports games,AFPreported.

"In a typical week of computer play for these participants, active gaming rather than passive gaming would increase total energy expenditure by less than two percent," the study authors wrote in theBritish Medical Journal.

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Moving Child From Orphanage to Foster Home Boosts IQ

A study of Romanian children found dramatic improvements in IQ once youngsters were removed from orphanages and placed in foster care instead.

The study, led by Dr. Charles Nelson III of Harvard Medical School, involved 136 young children from Bucharest's six orphanages. The children were randomly assigned to continue living in the orphanage or be moved into the new state-run foster care system.

The main finding: "The longer they stay in the institution, the worse their IQ," Nelson told theAssociated Press. Improvements were most marked among children who left the orphanage before age 2, a period that experts believe is key to healthy brain development.

In fact, by 4.5 years of age, children who had been moved to foster care were scoring almost 10 points higher on IQ tests than those who had remained in the orphanage, and those who had made the move before age 2 scored an average 15 points higher, the researchers said.

In many cases, this leap in IQ meant the difference between borderline retardation and average intelligence, the team reported in the Dec. 21 issue ofScience.

Children raised in their biological homes fared best of all, with IQ scores averaging 10-20 points higher than the foster-care children, the study found.

"The research provides concrete scientific evidence on the long-term impacts of the deprivation of quality care for children," UNICEF child protection specialist Aaron Greenberg told theAP. "The interesting part about this is the one-on-one caring of a young child ... impacts cognitive and intellectual development," he said.