The Freshman 15: is it real?
OBJECTIVE
The belief that college students gain 15 lbs during freshman year is widespread, yet the evidence for this is limited. The authors aimed to determine whether college students gain weight during freshman year.


METHODS
The authors studied unmarried freshmen living on-campus at a private university in the northeastern United States.


METHODS
The authors used an online survey to collect information about social behaviors and weight.


RESULTS
The authors observed an average weight gain of 2.7 lbs. About half of the students gained weight, and 15% lost weight. Men gained more weight than did women.


CONCLUSIONS
Freshman weight gain was 5.5 times greater than that experienced by the general population.
Mihalopoulos
Nicole L
NL
Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA. nicole.mihalopoulos@hsc.utah.edu
Auinger
Peggy
P
Klein
Jonathan D
JD
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities; D015430:Weight Gain