• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Saturday, August 30, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

What else comes with a college degree? An extra 10 pounds, says new study

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
December 12, 2016
in Science News
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram
IMAGE

Credit: Sally McCay

College students are carrying more than a diploma across the stage at graduation. They're lugging an extra 10 pounds gained over their college years, on average, along with the associated health risks, says a new study just published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

"The myth of the 'freshman 15' has been widely debunked," said the study's lead author, Lizzy Pope, assistant professor in the Nutrition and Food Sciences Department at the University of Vermont. "But our study shows that there is concerning weight gain among college students that happens over all four years they are in college."

The study measured student weight and body-mass-index at the beginning and end of students' first and second semesters and again at the end of their senior year.

At the beginning of their college careers, the mean weight of the students in the study was about 147 pounds. By the end of senior year, it had increased to about 157 pounds.

The extra weight translates to increased health risk, according to the study. Twenty-three percent of the students in the study were overweight or obese as they were starting college. By the end of senior year, 41 percent were in that category, a 78 percent increase.

Obese young adults are at risk for a variety of health conditions, Pope said, including diabetes, hypertension, polycystic ovarian syndrome and pscho-social distress.

The risk of becoming obese by age 30, a condition that carries a host of health concerns including a doubled mortality rate, is much greater for obese adolescents than for those of normal weight.

While students gained roughly a third of the weight in their first year — about three pounds on average – they also gained in other years, an important finding for the design of behavior-related interventions meant to help them keep the pounds off.

"These findings suggests that health practitioners should not limit their programming to just to that first year," she said, "but extend it over all four years of the college experience."While there was no direct connection among the students surveyed between lifestyle factors and weight or BMI gain, only 15 percent of the sample met the exercise target of 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times a week. And for most students, fruit and vegetable consumption was also below the recommended intake.

"This study and earlier ones suggest that college students are prone to weight gain that can impact their health in the present and even more significantly in the future," said Pope. "An important element of any strategy to stem the obesity epidemic would be to target this population with behavioral interventions over all four years of their college experience."

###

Media Contact

Jeff Wakefield
[email protected]
802-578-8830
@uvmvermont

http://www.uvm.edu

############

Story Source: Materials provided by Scienmag

Share12Tweet7Share2ShareShareShare1

Related Posts

Males Nurture Early-Stage Embryos in Treefrogs

August 30, 2025

MK801 Reduces Secondary Injury in Spinal Cord Trauma

August 30, 2025

Optimal Pacing Strategies for Time Trial Cycling

August 30, 2025

Animal Models Reveal PTSD Resilience and Vulnerability Differences

August 30, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    152 shares
    Share 61 Tweet 38
  • Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    142 shares
    Share 57 Tweet 36
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    116 shares
    Share 46 Tweet 29
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    82 shares
    Share 33 Tweet 21

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Males Nurture Early-Stage Embryos in Treefrogs

MK801 Reduces Secondary Injury in Spinal Cord Trauma

Optimal Pacing Strategies for Time Trial Cycling

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.