'Freshman 15' A Myth: Study

'Freshman 15' A Myth?

A new study from Ohio State University reveals that the much-mythologized 'Freshman 15' is just that -- a tall tale.

College students do gain an average of 2 to 3 pounds in their first year of school, according to OSU researcher Jay Zagorsky.

The Houston Chronicle has more:

Zagorsky's study used data from more than 7,000 young Americans who as part of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 were interviewed between the ages of 13 and 17 in 1997 and then interviewed each year since.

Only 10 percent of respondents gained 15 or more pounds during their freshmen years, while one-quarter of the study participants lost weight during their college years.

Zagorsky also said that college wasn't the culprit of late-teenage weight gain. "Most students don't gain large amounts of weight. And it is not college that leads to weight gain - it is becoming a young adult," he said, according to Psych Central.

Read the report's abstract here.

What do you think? Did you gain the freshman 15? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

RELATED VIDEO:

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot