College Crunch

A recent study confirms what has been widely known for sometime: that freshman are more likely to put on weight in their first year of college.

The study conduced by researchers, Heidi Wengreen and Cara Moncur, from the nutritional department at Utah State University in Logan found that students were likely to put on weight in their first year of college. The study reported an increase in weight in over 25% of the first year student population as well as an increase of roughly 5% of their body weight which equated to an average increase of 10 pounds.

It has long been known that students are more likely to put on weight in the first year of college and this has been the first major study to confirm its occurrence. During my first year, my friends and I all put on a few pounds and we thought this was due to the decreased level of physical activity as well as the late night pizza and beverage consumption sessions.

That certainly made sense at the time; however, I can’t imagine that all students who put on weight act the same way that my friends and I did. College students certainly have a lot more freedom than high school students – they’re able to eat what they want, and no one is monitoring what they put in their mouth. Add to this the fact that unlike high school, there generally isn’t a physical exercise component to college education.

It is also certainly true that you’re able to eat a lot more at college with a college setup that generally has a lot of fast food readily available, in contrast to a home or high school environment.

The study found that of those students who put on weight, the majority ate breakfast. This is surprising for a number of reasons. The main reason this surprises me is that previous similar studies found that the students who put on weight were, in fact, those who didn’t eat breakfast. Most studies say that skipping breakfast leads to slower metabolism, resulting in increasing weight gain.

I certainly agree with the researchers who suggest that the transition from high school to college is a critical one. Extra attention must be paid in educating students on the importance of eating well and exercising as this increase in weight can lead to an unhealthy, problem filled life.

You can read the full article on WebMD