Putting on the \u201cfreshman 15\u201d is a well-worn joke around college campuses \u2013 and there\u2019s scientific data to back up this phenomenon.<\/p>\n
Researchers have established that new college students often fall short of meeting dietary recommendations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen students first get to college, they tend to eat unhealthier because they\u2019re on their own for the first time,\u201d says Catherine Andersen, associate professor of nutritional sciences. \u201cThey have more autonomy in their food choices, and often they\u2019re choosing less healthful foods and beverages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Establishing poor eating habits early in adulthood has been linked to long-term consequences like obesity and chronic diseases.<\/p>\n
Given this, researchers have looked at how the food environment at universities plays a role. But many of these studies focus exclusively on a single aspect of the food environment, such as dining halls or vending machines, which are usually only one food option of many on campus.<\/p>\n
Andersen, who is faculty in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR)<\/a>, published a study in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Research,<\/a> taking a wider perspective of nutrition on a college campus.<\/p>\n Andersen looked at dining options including the buffet-style campus dining hall, a grab-and-go style eatery, the campus food court, vending machines, and a commercial coffee shop at a small liberal arts university in the northeast.<\/p>\n Andersen and her collaborators looked at the nutritional content in a serving of food at each location. They compared standard nutritional measures like calories, fat, sugar, protein, fiber, sodium, and carbohydrates and averaged them across all available options.<\/p>\n The dining hall options provided the lowest calories, carbohydrates, sugar, and saturated fat, but the highest amount of fiber on average.<\/p>\n Surprisingly, the researchers found that the options in the vending machine actually had the lowest average sodium across all locations, and less sugar than the coffee shop.<\/p>\n The study also compared the nutritional quality of options at different times of day. This consideration was inspired by conversations Andersen had with her students who often have labs that don\u2019t end until after the dining hall closes. Students also mentioned that with packed class schedules, they don\u2019t always have time to go somewhere with healthier options.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom subjective feedback, it seemed like based on where your dorm was, your major, or what your class schedule was like, dining options seemed to be pretty variable,\u201d Andersen says. \u201cSo that\u2019s why we took this approach.\u201d<\/p>\n They found that foods served in the dining hall for breakfast tended to be higher in sugar and lower in protein and sodium than those served for lunch and dinner.<\/p>\n \u201cOverall, this might mean that depending on when you go to the dining hall \u2013 just for breakfast or dinner, or every meal \u2013 there might be differences in the amount of sugar or sodium you have to choose from,\u201d Andersen says.<\/p>\n This work is a pilot project that could be expanded to look at other types of universities, for example, large public schools like UConn, as well as institutions elsewhere in the U.S.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes it can be easier said than done to just eat healthy, because people have busy lives, they have breaks for meals for only so long,\u201d Andersen says. \u201cSo, it\u2019s important to reflect on your food environment and how that influences what you ultimately end up eating.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This work was supported by a grant from the National Consortium for Building Healthy Academic Communities. <\/em><\/p>\n This work relates to CAHNR\u2019s Strategic Vision area focused on\u00a0<\/em>Enhancing Health and Well-Being Locally, Nationally, and Globally.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n