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TheView Health
in February, Weight Watchers set oFF a Firestorm
when it announced it would offer its weight-loss program,
for free, to teens ages 13 to 17. It angered many parents, as
well as eating- disorder experts who felt it could give rise to
obsessive and unhealthy behaviors in adolescents. WW—as
the company rebranded itself last September— refused to
shrink from the criticism, says CEO Mindy Grossman: “It ac-
tually strengthened our resolve and made us offensive.” Now
WW is doubling down: on Aug. 13, the company rolled out
Kurbo by WW, a free nutrition and weight-loss app for kids
8 to 17. The app will inevitably draw praise, for giving a new
tool to the millions of U.S. children struggling with weight,
and outrage, for potentially furthering unhealthy body stan-
dards and eating behaviors, in equal measure.
WW acquired the nutrition app Kurbo in 2018, then
spent a year expanding it, adding features like breathing-
exercise instructions and a Snapchat- inspired interface. Kids,
or parents on their behalf, enter their height, weight, age
and health goals, then begin logging what they eat. Kurbo
ranks food choices using a Stanford University–developed
“ traffic light” system: green items are “go” foods that can be
eaten freely; yellow foods should be consumed in moderate
portions; and red foods should make kids “stop and think.”
For a fee— starting at $69 for a month—weekly video coach-
ing is also available. Coaches are trained to pick up on signs
of disordered eating.
It could be a good business decision for a company that’s
struggling to define its place in an increasingly diet- averse
culture; its stock prices have fluctuated wildly, from $103
last summer to $21.50 this month. Almost 38% of American
teenagers ages 16 to 19 have tried to lose weight, and nearly
20% of kids ages 2 to 19 qualify as obese, according to the lat-
est government data. Obese kids are likely to continue strug-
gling with their weight as they age, underscoring the need for
inter ventions that start young. “The sooner the better,” says
Dr. Brooke Sweeney, a specialist in adolescent weight manage-
ment at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. “It’s so
much easier to maintain weight or slow down how fast they’re
gaining weight vs. losing weight.”
However, some studies suggest that weight-loss efforts can,
if not done right, lead to or worsen disordered eating and body-
image issues. Apps may exacerbate the issue. A small 2019
study found that almost half of roughly 100 participants re-
ported negative feelings like guilt, obsession or social isolation
after using nutrition and fitness apps. Still, apps can also be an
easy and accessible way for families to adopt healthier habits,
says Dr. Stephenie Wallace, an associate professor of pediatrics
at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She likes Kurbo’s
traffic-light system but stresses that children shouldn’t use it
by themselves. “Younger kids are going to need support [from
an adult] to help supervise their progress,” she says.
Extensive research into Kurbo’s approach show it can
Weight loss for kids?
There’s an app for that
By Jamie Ducharme
promote healthy weight loss. A Massachu-
setts General Hospital study published in
July (undertaken independently of Kurbo
and WW) found that a traffic-light system
lowered the average calorie counts of meals
purchased by a sample group of around
5,700 adults in a hospital cafeteria over
two years. And an independent study pre-
sented at the Biennial Childhood Obesity
Conference in July found that 84% of child
Kurbo users saw a reduction in their body-
mass-index percentile after 21 weeks. It’s
effective because instead of restricting un-
healthy foods, it subtly reinforces healthy
eating patterns, says WW’s chief scientific
officer, Gary Foster, an adjunct professor
of psychology in psychiatry at the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania. “You don’t want kids
thinking about grams of this and ounces of
that,” he says. “The goal is never to [say],
‘You’ll never have a cookie again.’ It’s prog-
ress, not perfection.”
Sweeney says that’s the right philosophy
for anyone trying to get healthier, regardless
of age. In an ideal world, she says, a doctor
would be involved in that effort too, espe-
cially where kids are concerned. But the U.S.
obesity epidemic exists in the less-than-
ideal real world, and it demands creative
answers like Kurbo.
GREEN
MEANS GO
Kids should be
eating lots of
“green” foods,
such as fruits
and veggies,
every day
E A SY
TRACKING
Kids enter the
foods they’ve
eaten, and
Kurbo logs
them by color—
not by calories
EXTRA HELP
Video coaching
is available for
kids whose
parents are
willing to pay
an added fee
COURTESY WW; PHONE: GETTY IMAGES; ILLUSTRATIONS BY BROWN BIRD DESIGN FOR TIME
