Weight Watchers launches weight loss app aimed at children and teens

WW formerly Weight Watchers is reaching out to a very different demographic when it comes to weight loss.

They have launched an app for healthy weight loss for children, and teens.

We can all agre that childhood obesity is an issue; a little more than 18 percent of kids in the US are obese, according to the CDC. But tackling it with an app targeted to kids as young as 8 years of age?

Kurbo by WW uses a traffic light system to rank the health of foods, tracks stress management, sleep, and other stats.

“While the claim is that this is all about health, not weight, the details suggest otherwise,” says David L. Katz, M.D., founder of the True Health Initiative and author of The Truth About Food. “Every ‘success’ story highlighted on the Kurbo site is measured in pounds lost, or BMI reduction. I think WW is wrestling with an existential conflict. They really are, to their very foundations, a weight loss company—everything ever built until now has been about that. They now want to be a wellness company, but that’s a difficult pivot when success to date has always been measured in pounds lost.”

The app is free and available on Android iOS.