Features
First-Year Males Pack on the Pounds, Too
In fact, male university students gain more weight than females do, researchers find
BY DEIRDRE HEALEY
Weight gain during the first year of university is as much a problem for males as it is for females, according to a new U of G study.
Profs. Alison Duncan, Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, and Janis Randall Simpson, Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, studied more than 100 first-year male students at Guelph.
They found that from the time the students left high school until the end of their first year of university, they had gained an average of 6.6 pounds.
“That's a significant increase in a relatively short period of time and definitely something to pay attention to,” says Duncan.
In fact, the males gained slightly more weight than their female counterparts. In a similar study conducted a couple of years ago involving more than 100 female first-year students, the two researchers found the participants gained an average of five pounds.
Although these results disprove the idea of the “Freshman 15” — a term used to describe the weight gain many university students experience in their first year — they are evidence that leaving home to attend university can lead to significant weight gain in both males and females, says Duncan.
“It's a vulnerable point in time when nutritional and health-related habits are being developed. Any poor habits students develop can stay with them throughout life, so this transition period could have an influence on future obesity and future disease risk.”
These studies are the first in Canada to look at the dietary and exercise-related changes that occur during the transition from high school to university.
Besides the weight gain, both male and female students showed increases in body mass index, percentage of body fat and circumference measurements.
Funded by the Danone Institute of Canada, the study of male first-year students involved tracking the participants from their last month in high school until the end of their first year at university. They met three times with the researchers for updates on body measurements, food choices, eating patterns and size of servings, as well as changes in the amount of exercise and sedentary activity.
As with the females, results showed the males were still taking in the same number of calories, but there were changes to their diets, says Duncan. Since leaving home, they were consuming less fruit and fewer dairy products. They were also drinking more alcohol.
Like their female counterparts, they also reported a decrease in physical activity and an increase in sedentary activities such as sitting at the computer, studying and watching television.
Although the two researchers are now looking at the data from both studies to determine why there are differences in the amount of weight gained by the male and female participants, Duncan says the data as a whole will be beneficial to developing prevention strategies.
“For the first time, we now have comprehensive data on what happens to students' lifestyles during the first year of university. These data can be used for developing intervention programs to help first-year students make this important transition without developing unhealthy habits.”