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Study Proves the Freshman Fifteen is a Myth

Submitted by admin on Thu, 2011-11-03 20:51
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It’s a phrase that strikes fear into the heart of every first year college student. No, not midterms, but the freshman fifteen. It’s commonly thought that young adults tend to gain a large amount of weight their first year of college, but a study conducted by researchers at the Ohio State University’s Center for Human Resource Research has proved that this assumption is a myth.

 
In fact, it’s not just the freshman fifteen that has been disproven. "Not only is there not a 'Freshman 15,' there doesn't appear to be even a 'college 15' for most students," said Jay Zagorsk, co-author of the study. Only ten percent of students gain more than fifteen pounds their freshman year. Twenty five percent say they actually lost weight.
 
So where did this myth get started? It has less to do with the location of the weight gain (in college versus not) and more to do with age. As Zagorsk explains, "it is not college that leads to weight gain - it is becoming a young adult."
 
The study looked at a number of different reasons a college freshman might gain weight. Living in a dorm, working, and excessive consumption of alcohol were all investigated. Only those who drank heavily showed a difference from non-college students, and even then those who drink only gained a pound more than those who abstained from alcohol consumption.
 
So freshman, fear no more!
 

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