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Last month, Weight Watchers, now called WW, doubled its campaign to promote adolescent weight loss by announcing a new nutritional monitoring app for children ages 8-17.
The new application – Kurbo – based on the pediatric obesity program of Stanford University, last year. The application uses the so-called "Traffic Light" approach, which, according to Allure, "categorizes foods into two categories: red (processed and sweet foods such as sweets and sodas), yellow (lean proteins and pasta). ) and green (vegetables and vegetables). fruits). It's also especially for children.
Last February, WW received a thorough review for the creation of a free weight loss program specifically designed for teens. Many feel that the focus is too much on dieting and weight loss in young teens.
The launch of Kurbo triggers a storm of criticism.
How the application works
From the age of eight, children can download the free "fun to use" Kurbo application on their smartphone. Children 13 and over do not need parental approval. When they register, they enter their name, size, weight and sex. Then they choose a goal and rank them in order of importance. The goal options listed on Kurbo are: "Eating more healthily, losing weight, making parents happy, getting stronger and healthier, having more energy, increasing self-confidence or feeling better about myself." clothing".
The profile page of the child presents his body mass index (BMI), a formula based on his weight and height. Then, these teenage members follow their daily consumption of food in Kurbo's free app, based on the "traffic light system" green (good), red (bad) or yellow (in moderation).
For $ 69 a month, the child can use a digital coach to accompany the free application, which is strongly encouraged. The teenage user can watch success stories like Emilie, aged eleven, who "lost 25 pounds in five months".
America is facing an obesity crisis
Almost everyone in the field of health and wellness agrees that America is facing a systematic epidemic of large-scale obesity.
"We have a public health problem and we need public health solutions," said Dr. Julie Foucher at Morning Chalk Up. "Our population is succumbing to a chronic disease that threatens the security and vitality of our country. Changing this trajectory will not happen head-to-head when visiting the doctor. We need to make changes at the grassroots level and, at least at first glance, this application seems to be a step in the right direction. "
But not everyone agrees that the Kurbo application will solve this problem.
Jennifer Anderson, MSP, RD, she herself tried the Kurbo app and said that after a few entries, as an adult adult, she felt guilty about eating food labeled in red. "A vegetarian hamburger was a" yellow "food – and had to be" cautious "of my portions. It's all weight loss regardless of the actual nutritional needs, "she wrote on Instagram. "In the 5 minutes that followed the use of the application and the beginning of a meal day, I felt guilty for tracking down a red food."
According to Kurbo, an apple is a green food but applesauce is a red food. Cheese is a red food, but Mac N 'cheese is a yellow food. Peanut butter is red, as is sweet almond milk. A fifth of the avocado is yellow, just like the scrambled eggs.
The traffic light system is not new. Julie Upton, RD, wrote that the traffic light system is used in other countries, even on food packaging, and that it works. Keri Gans, a New York-based RDN agency, said the system had its benefits: "The Traffic Light System & # 39; has been around for a very long time and is one of the most effective and well-documented tools to help children, adolescents and adolescents. and families are getting healthy eating habits, "she said.
Adee Cazayoux, CEO of Working Against Gravity, agrees. "I appreciate the fact that the traffic light system avoids words of morality such as" good "and" bad food ", as well as the integration of mindfulness through breathing exercises. It seems that they are also trying to reinforce healthy habits and to progress above perfection – all that is important to me. "
Although the traffic light system appears to be an excellent interface to teach children to make informed decisions about health, children using this application will have to face other factors. What will they feel emotionally if they eat too much red food in a day? And if they do not reach their goal, which is to have more loose clothes or to make their parents happy with their weight? And how is a child supposed to be feeling a red food that his parents or grandparents serve for dinner? What do they do if they are at a slumber party?
"I totally agree that for kids and teens, parents or caretakers should be involved in facilitating and monitoring dietary changes, but unfortunately in many cases parents are in the same boat as the kids. This app seems like a solution that could be used as an educational tool for whole families, "Foucher told Morning Chalk Up.
The focus on weight loss misses the goal of health
But there are others who think that the application is dangerous and intended to cause eating disorders in children who use it. In an article published in Outside, Kory Stotesbury, a child psychiatrist specializing in eating disorders in California, writes: "As soon as you say that you are going to do something to fight against childhood obesity, people will assume that is a very good thing. But that's totally wrong, "he says. "If Kurbo has the desired reach – millions of children – then it will be the initiation to eating disorders for many, and people will die."
In a letter to his young daughter, Games athlete, Kenzie Riley, explained how joining Weight Watchers at the age of 15 had developed an unhealthy relationship with a troublemaking diet. of food.
"When your mother joins Weight Watchers, you will do it with her. It will be fun at first. You will start losing weight and you will love this feeling. But it's addictive and you love to control your weight, so you're going to start stuffing yourself and purging yourself. "
Eating disorders are the third most common chronic condition in adolescents, after obesity and asthma, according to a study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
"The focus should be on a healthy lifestyle rather than on weight," said the study, which also admitted that dieting was the single most important predictor of developing a disorder. food.
The numbers are such that in 2016, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued guidelines recommending that physicians and families avoid discussing weight loss or diet with children, and focus on healthy lifestyles.
Games athlete Carleen Mathews, who spoke about her story with eating disorders before discovering CrossFit, told Morning Chalk Up, "I think it's a parent job to show what a child looks like. Healthy eating. kids."
The end of cut is the following. It will not be WW or an app that will change the rates of obesity in children. It will not be a doctor in the sea, nor a nutritionist. It will not be one thing. Instead, it will require a systematic review of all things.
"Addressing childhood obesity safely and effectively will require nothing less than a redesign of culture and food policy change," says Stotesbury. "Not a diet app for kids."
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