Examining fact and fiction behind Freshman 15

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Yolanda Davis heard about the dreaded phenomenon before heading off to New Orleans for her freshman year at Xavier University and wanted no part of it. Wendy Moses had likewise heard the tales before settling in as a freshman at Emory University in Atlanta but never imagined it would happen to her.\nThe two Fort Worth, Texas, women found themselves face to face with the so-called Freshman 15, the alleged propensity of students to put on up to 15 pounds when they first go off to college. Whether established fact or national folklore remains an open question, but for many of the roughly 1.5 million young people who enter college each fall, the Freshman 15 becomes a living, breathing reality.\nAs a scientifically proven phenomenon, the Freshman 15 has taken its lumps in recent years. \n"It depends on the school and individual," said Kelly Simonson, a licensed psychologist at the counseling center at Texas Woman's University in Denton. "An equal number of people lose weight."\nAccording to Simonson, a school's culture can be a factor in whether students will gain weight. \n"At TWU, you'll see every size and shape of woman on the planet," she said. "But at a place like Southern Methodist University in Dallas, there are more social pressures to be thin."\nJeanne Goldberg, a professor at Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston, said, "It's a catch phrase -- nice alliteration. But it's not true."\nGoldberg said she looked at the issue 15 years ago and found that freshmen did gain a few pounds. At the end of four years, however, those same students had lost weight and weighed roughly the same as when they started college.\nMore recently, researchers at Tufts conducted another study. They found that freshman women gained an average of 4 pounds their first year in school, while freshman men gained an average of 6. \n"The reason I'm concerned about the 4 pounds of weight for women is that, in the context of the national obesity epidemic, will they lose those 4 pounds or will it be a trajectory?" Goldberg said. She added that researchers will continue to follow up to track the weight of study subjects. Tufts recently sent out its first alumni weight survey.\nWhether it is 4, 6 or 15 pounds, people on college campuses say it is not uncommon for some students to gain considerable weight during their first year. Reggie Bond, executive director of the Health and Wellness Center at the University of North Texas in Denton, said he has heard about the fabled Freshman 15 since he first entered the college environment. However, he said he doubts that it happens to most students.\n"You do have a few students who gain a lot of weight," he said. "But this does not seem to be true for a majority of students."\nBenita Jacobs, vice president of student development at UNT, concurs. \n"We joke about it a lot, and, anecdotally, you see a lot of kids who put on weight because they eat more and they eat differently than they did at home," she said. "If I had to guess, I'd say a number of students do put on weight after they first go to college. But whether it is as many as in the past, I doubt it because people are so much more health-conscious today."\nMonica Kintigh, a licensed professional counselor with mental health services at Fort Worth's Texas Christian University, said a constellation of factors contribute to freshman weight gain. \n"It's a transition time," she said. `It's not just the stress of college. Now, for the first time, they have to do their own laundry and get their own meals."\nIn addition, some students fret about the financial burden their schooling places on their families. Others worry about their social lives, wondering who their new friends will be and how they will fit in on campus. Such radical changes can lead some students to feel blue.\n"When we feel bad, we go for comfort foods," Kintigh said, foods often laden with fat and calories.\nFood at college residence halls also has been fingered as a culprit in freshman weight gain. However, colleges and universities have become increasingly sophisticated in the fare they offer. \n"Now there is such a variety of food offered at each of the residence halls," said UNT's Bond, ranging from sub sandwiches to vegetarian dishes.\nCounselors and nutrition experts caution that, while college weight gain can be a problem, a number of people develop serious eating disorders as they attempt to avoid gaining weight. \n"Some people are so afraid of gaining the Freshman 15 that they become bulimic or anorexic," said Kintigh of TCU.\nBulimics follow periods of excessive overeating with self-induced vomiting, while anorexia is an obsession with losing weight by refusing to eat. The numbers can be staggering. Simonson said that up to 20 percent of all women on college campuses exhibit some sort of eating-disorder behavior.\nGoldberg, the Tufts professor, said bulimia is the most common eating disorder at colleges and is the more easily treatable of disorders. But that does not mean that it is not unsettling. \n"What I'm concerned about is bulimia as a communicable idea on college campuses," she said. "It's not that so many people become bulimic, it's that there is a lot of imitation. Students say, 'Oh, my God, I just over-ate and this is my weight control.'"\nWhether the problem is gaining weight or losing too much, Kintigh said it is essential that students find a balance between nutrition, sleep and exercise as they navigate their way through the college experience. \n"We want students to find that balance and feel good about themselves," she said. "All foods can be good foods, but they shouldn't be used as a drug."\nFor her part, Moses has remained philosophical about her weight gain. \n"Everyone is weight-conscious, but everyone gains the Freshman 15," she said. "I gained the weight, and I know I can lose it"