As Jesse so succinctly mentioned in our new episode of GameSpyte, the Wii Fit has taken some fire recently for calling a ten-year old “fat” based on nothing more than a BMI calculation. Today, Nintendo issued an apology via an article in the UK’s Daily Mail, but not before Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forums condemned the game for using BMI to grade children in the first place.
From the article:
Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum called for children to be banned from playing the game, claiming the BMI measurement was misleading.
“I’m absolutely aghast that children are being told they are fat,” he said.
“BMI is far from perfect but with children it simply should not be used.
“A child’s BMI can change every month and it is perfectly possible for a child to be stocky, yet still very fit.
“I would be very concerned if children were using this game and I believe it should carry a warning for parents.”
Nintendo said today it would not be placing a warning on the game.
A spokesman said: “Nintendo would like to apologise to any customers offended by the in-game terminology used to classify a player’s current BMI status, as part of the BMI measurement system integrated into Wii Fit.
Wii Fit is still capable of measuring the BMI for people aged between two and 20 but the resulting figures may not be entirely accurate for younger age groups due to varying levels of development.”
Based on this information alone, Nintendo would certainly seem to be on the defensive, perhaps even in the wrong, and though they’ve apologized for using the word “fat” (after all, it’s far more PC to use the word “overweight”) it seems they intend to do nothing about it.
But then again, Fry’s statement that BMI “simply should not be used” with children is rather disconcerting given the fact that it directly contradicts the very policy of the National Obesity Forum he supposedly represents here. A post on the front page of their website, entitled “NOF Policy Statement on Childhood Obesity and the Measurement of Children’s Body Mass Index (BMI),” includes the following lines:
The NOF view is that measuring BMI should begin at the age of one year and be repeated at yearly intervals throughout childhood, using appropriate charts based on breastfed children. In this way deviations from the norm could be detected early and appropriate actions taken.
GameCyte has requested comment from the National Obesity Forums regarding the discrepancy, but given current U.K. time at publication, we expect a reply no sooner than next week.
We note that the U.S. Center for Disease Control also advocates measuring childhood BMI, though by a different method from that of adults.
UPDATE 5.19.08: A representative from the the offices of Dr. Colin Waine, chair of the National Obesity Forum, tells us that they believe Fry was misquoted, and iterates that BMI is important for children:
We need to use BMI centile charts such as those produced by the World Health Organization and which are now widely available. We do know that you can correlate child BMI levels with adult levels and that the emphasis in children should be on prevention or early detection of deviation from the norm followed by family based remedial actions. BMI correlates with obesity in about 90% of cases. It’s fault is that it does not take into account bodily composition so that a very athletic person could have a high BMI but would not be obese in terms of excess fat.
UPDATE 5.28.08: An editor at the Evening Standard (in which the article originally ran before its posting on the Daily Mail website) has contacted GameCyte, and says that he is “unaware of any problem with the story being raised by the National Obesity Forum.”
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