Search Here

A study published today September 18 in Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism asserts that the freshman 15 goes beyond just the first year of undergrad and does in fact affect a person's BMI and body composition during the total four years of a bachelor education.

"While dozens of studies have investigated weight gain during the freshman year of college and have reported on the so called "freshman 15" (the commonly held belief that students gain an average of 15 lbs their first year of college), our study is the first to examine changes in weight, body mass index, body composition, and body shape over the 4‐year college period," explains Sareen Gropper, a co‐author of the study and researcher at Auburn University in Alabama.

The study tracks a total of 131 freshmen throughout their entire undergraduate career and found that 70 percent of students had gained weight upon graduation, packing on an average of 11.68 lbs. The study also found that males gained significantly more weight than females and the overall percentage of overweight participants increased from 18 percent to 31 percent.

The reason for all this extra poundage?

"College and university students are often living away from home; they do not have a parent grocery shopping or preparing food for them.  They can be distracted from their health and any extracurricular activities by their studies," suggests Terry Graham, Editor of APNM, and a professor in the Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Guelph. 

Graham adds that the study, among other things, "highlights that students need to make healthy choices and also that the institutions need to take steps to facilitate these decisions."

Healthier eating habits can be fueled by healthier dishes offered in the campus cafeterias and healthier snack options provided in vending machines that are liberally situated throughout most campuses.

Due to late night study habits, students often snack late which contributes to this problem. But munching on fruits, vegetables and things like trail mix would not only sustain ones appetite but prevent a ballooning in weight.