It’s popular wisdom that college students put on 10 or 15 pounds their first year of school, a phenomenon often dubbed “the freshman 15.” But new research suggests that the notion of early college weight gain is a myth.
Most people gain between 2 and 3 pounds in the year after high school, whether or not they attend college, according to new research. As reported in Science Times:
Researchers at the Ohio State University reviewed data from 7,418 interviews with subjects ages 17 to 20 and found that first-year students, both men and women, gained about 3 pounds during the year. Heavy drinkers gained more, and those who had a job gained less than those who did not. But income, poverty and living in a dorm had no statistically significant effect.
The study, published in the December issue of the journal Social Science Quarterly, also found that young adults who do not go to college gain weight — about a half pound less than college students of the same age. In other words, college attendance has almost no effect on weight gain.
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