Weight Watchers has been a name in the public conscience for decades, known for their clinics and support for those wanting to lose weight. Their main audience has been mostly middle-aged women, those who society is always pressuring to keep their youth. But the new and rebranded “WW” has shifted its focus to a new group: children. In August, WW released a new app called Kurbo, which branded itself as “health coaching for kids” as young as eight. The app is focused on helping children choose better and healthier foods, not to eat less. Instead of counting calories, like many other dieting apps, Kur

bo employs a traffic-light system. Food is separated into three categories based on nutritional value: green, for fruits and vegetables, yellow, for grains and complex carbohydrates, and red, for foods like fats and sugars. 

  Kurbo also offers a premium membership for those serious about its benefits. For $70-$50 a month (depending on your membership), teens will receive weekly video calls with a certified and personalized health coach to talk about goals and progress. 

  However, many adults and parents are gravely concerned about this app, and the possible effects it could have on children. In The Atlantic article, “Putting Kids on Diets Won’t Solve Anything”, Natalie Muth, a pediatrician and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, gave her opinion on the program: “Children are not ‘little adults’ and the approaches that may ‘work’ for adults, such as weight-loss goals, are not appropriate for children most of the time. Interventions that focus on weight as the main target can trigger disordered eating patterns, and low confidence and self-esteem.” Kurbo released a statement about how their system of categorizing good and bad foods has shown no scientific correlation to disordered eating, and that their premium accounts have safeguards in place to alert if a child seems to be losing too much weight.

  Some academics are less concerned about worries of unhealthy eating habits, and more concerned about WW’s president and CEO, Mindy Grossman’s claim that the app will “change the health trajectory of the world”. Andrew Subica, a professor of public health at UC Riverside, says in the same Atlantic article, “My concern with anything like [Kurbo], but especially something that’s targeting young children, is that it puts the blame on the child when really it’s a lot of the cultural forces around the child that lead to obesity.” The main factors in systemic obesity are socioeconomic, including the high costs of organic food, fresh produce, and whole-wheat options. Many families do not have parents at home with enough time or money to make home cooked meals every day. There is also the factor of profit-driven advertising, driving the cost of processed, GMO foods down and the public interest in fast food up.

  Basically, the main concern with the app is a large corporation such as WW benefiting and profiting from young children’s body image issues. Companies like this will keep on making these apps and programs targeting those who have problems with themselves, until our society can finally change it’s ways. 

https://kurbo.com/

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/08/weight-watchers-diet-app-kids/596422/