One in three children in this country is overweight or obese. Lack of activity is a big part of the problem and the fact that 60 percent of kids play video games every single day is a contributing factor.

Now, a physician and researcher at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center is trying to find out if the right video game might actually help overweight teens lose weight.

The video game Dance Dance Revolution is an interactive game in which players are challenged to match their dance steps with the flashing arrows on the screen. It’s high energy. It’s fun and 15-year-old Justin Fluckiger has enrolled in a study aimed at determining whether the popular video game can also help overweight teens lose weight.

“One thing we know about overweight children is that they are less likely than their normal weighted peers to participate in exercise and the reasons for that are many,” said Casey Hester, MD of OU Children’s Physicians. “One reason is they are self-conscious about their appearance and don’t want to participate in traditional sports activities. So the nice thing about Dance Dance Revolution is it is available in the safety and comfort of their own home.”

The video game can be played at home with Play station, Play station Two or Xbox. In the study, though, overweight teens come to Children’s Hospital three times a week for an hour each time of supervised Dance Dance Revolution.

Participating teens are asked to make no other changes in their eating or exercise routine. All 40 participants are tested before beginning the ten-week program and then again after it’s completed.

Justin, who weighs about 275 pounds, said he hopes the program will help him “feel better, sleep more and run faster.” He also wants to lose about fifty pounds before basketball tryouts at his high school.

“We’re certainly looking and hoping for weight loss,” added Hester. “However, we know that being overweight leads to other associated chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. So with sophisticated equipment that we have here at Children’s, we are also going to be looking at body composition, vascular function testing, which is how healthy the blood vessels are and also insulin sensitivity.”

Participants in the study are all between the ages of 13 and 18 with a body mass index higher than the 95th percentile. Children with type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure were not eligible to take part.

Hester said preliminary results from the study could be available in a few months.