SEPTEMBER 7 2019 LISTENER 29
I
f I wrote a book about being
healthy, it would be called, Don’t
Eat So Much and Exercise More.
It would be quite short. Nobody
would buy it.
Nevertheless, New Zealand has
a weight problem. The most recent
national health survey reported one-in-
three adults was obese with an “excessively
high amount of body fat in relation to lean
body mass”. Rates of adult obesity have tre-
bled since 1977, and we can now lay claim
to the third-highest adult-obesity level in
the OECD.
Our child-obesity rate is also rising: one-
in-eight aged between two and 14 are obese.
I was a little rotund as a child, but once
puberty kicked in (and without any dietary
intervention) I turned into a somewhat
weedy 15-year-old who could run 100m in
under 12 seconds. I am now a somewhat
rotund 40-something who might – just – be
able to make it to the end of a 100m track.
And I eat pretty healthily.
A person can be healthy whether their
body weight is below average, average
or above average. But the more above
average you are, the more likely you are
to experience a range of health challenges.
This is why it is better to be near the middle
of the curve.
Unfortunately, after decades of ran-
domised control trials, population-level
interventions and public-health initiatives,
we have still not found a sure-fire way to
help people lose weight and keep it off.
Which is why I’m a little perplexed that
the organisation “WW”, formerly known as
Weight Watchers, has released an app called
Kurbo to track the diet, fitness and weight
loss of kids and teens aged eight to 17.
Kurbo classifies food into green, yellow
and red, according to general wholesome-
ness, and also does a bunch of things thatare available in most adult-targeted apps and
trackers, including measuring weight loss.
Although Kurbo invites users to choose their
goals, “I want to lose weight” is not one of
them. However, you could argue that theoption “boost my confidence” is a euphe-
mism for that very thing.I
n principle, I’m not sure I have a problem
with the traffic-light system, although
research shows that most five-year-olds
already know that sugary or fried foods
aren’t healthy and that fruit and vegetables
are. The value, then, may come from thetracking and monitoring.
Given that youth-targeted fitness trackers
have only emerged in the past five years, we
don’t yet know if they’re effective, or if they
have psychological consequences. However,
there is some evidence to suggest that they
can boost short-term fitness-related activity.
Indeed, some youth-targeted trackers
“gamify” targets by offering virtual trophies
or badges and allow children to track their
progress against friends or family.
But there is a risk that this weight-loss
gaming may reduce natural motivation. A
2017 study, published in the American Jour-
nal of Health Education, found that after a
Fitbit “intervention” boys and girls reported
less motivation to exercise for its own sake
and less motivation overall. One reason
this might be the case is that the fitness
tracker and the trophies it offers replace
the previous motivation. Then, when the
digital fireworks display and the “well done”
trophy start to seem a little lame, they are
left with nothing.
In short, for now anyway, the jury is out
on youth-targeted fitness trackers. lG
ET
TY(^) IM
AG
ES
WRONG SIDE OF
THE TRACKS
Devices that record and measure diet, fitness and
weight loss in children need close scrutiny argues
psychology professor Marc Wilson.
I’m perplexed “WW”,
formerly known as
Weight Watchers, has
released an app called
Kurbo to track the diet,
fitness and weight loss
of kids and teens.
Kurbo, a fitness
app from WW, is
aimed at children
and teens aged
eight to 17.