The Daily Campus

Issue date: 11/6/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Nick Hart Too much food, combined with poor dietary selection and a lack of exercise are all factors that lead to the Freshman 15.

Although some recent research disputes the existence of the dreaded Freshman 15, Amy Pumerantz, a registered dietician and nutrition coordinator at UConn said that she sees the threat of weight gain in college as real for some.

"There has been research that disproves it but from someone who's been working with freshman for seven years, for some it is a reality," Pumerantz said.

Ellen Shanley, program director in Dietetics at UConn points to several causes for this weight gain.

"Students are not choosing foods correctly; they are choosing foods with higher calorie value and choosing to have more food," Shanley said.

Shanley points to less physical activity as another contributor to weight gain. She said that students who might have been involved in sports during high school are no longer participating in these sports and are now more sedentary.

Pumerantz agreed, saying that not only diet and exercise are contributors but environmental changes, stress, homesickness and other factors contribute.

"Students are stressed, homesick and bored," Pumerantz said. "Students are up later and may use food as a comforting agent. Lack of sleep can affect basic health and affect appetite controlling hormones."

Pumerantz also pointed to alcohol consumption as a factor in weight gain.

"Alcohol is non nutritive calories that can affect how we metabolize fat," Pumerantz said.

The university is trying to be proactive about healthy eating while not limiting selection.

C. Dennis Pierce, the director of dining services, said that they are doing more than just feeding students.



"We just don't provide food, we provide education," Pierce said.



Part of that education are nutrition labels provided for the food served at the eight dining halls on campus. Some students, however, don't completely trust the labels.



Amy Trzcinski, a 5th-semester communication disorders major, is one of those students who has doubts about the labels.



"I think they may be in the range but I don't think any of them are exact," Trzcinski said.



Trzcinski is also frustrated to see labels that have no facts or have zeroes for all the components.

Continued...

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