Students Earn A College Degree And 4.5 Kilograms Of Extra Weight! #graduationday

First Posted: Dec 14, 2016 02:13 AM EST
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One of the things people taunt new freshmen students is the curse of the so-called Freshmen 15. The Freshmen 15 is the 15 pounds of extra weight students gain in their first year in college. But the Freshmen 15 is actually just a myth. According to a new study, more than a college degree, students also gain an extra 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of weight as they graduate from college.

The Freshmen 15 might be a myth, but this does not mean college students can eat their way through college. A recent study headed by Lizzy Pope of the University of Vermont claims that along with a college degree, students gain an added 10 pounds of weight. It means that students have gained weight for all four years of college.

The study published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior measured the students' weights and body mass index in the first year of college and in the last year of college. This means the students were weighed in the first and second semester during their freshmen year and the same during their senior year in college.

The researchers found out that during the freshmen year, the average weight of students were around 147 pounds. In their senior year, the students' average weight increased to about 157 pounds.

In the beginning of the study, only 23 percent of the students in their freshmen year were in the obese category. However, during their senior year, the students considered obese were now 41 percent.

This finding is alarming to the researchers. This means that as students go through college, they gain weight. As they gain weight, the chances of being prone to health risks like diabetes, hypertension, psycho-social distress and others also increase. If a person is obese at a young age, he or she would likely be obese by the time he or she hits 30 years old compared to those people who have normal weight.

The study also found out that most of the college students are consuming fewer amounts of fruits and vegetables. Most of them also do not follow the recommended 30 minutes of low impact physical activities on a daily basis. Other factors such as high consumption of alcoholic drinks and junk foods contribute to the weight gain of students throughout their college years.

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