It is possible to make a statement that currently obesity is the large-scale problem for the population of the United States. The major argumentation for this statement is the fact that as soon as the obesity is diagnosed, there is a set of complications in terms of achievement of the normal weight by obsessed individuals. That is why, the preventive measures, related to obesity and maintenance of the normal weight among the population, have become the essential concerns for the public health.
It was stated by the scholars that one of the most effective strategic options for the weight gain prevention is represented by identification of the weight gain’ critical periods within the life span of individual. In such case, there are the options for issuing the interventions directed on assistance of the target audience in its critical periods of life. It was stated by the experts that the process of transition from the high school to college may be referred as such critical period – as usually, this time is associated with the set of different changes in the lifestyle which, in turn, may become the reason for the weight gain (for instance increased alcohol intake and eating habits) even while taking in consideration the fact that the overweight and obesity are the large-scale problems among such age group as the college-age adults.
Such notion as “the freshman 15” pertains to the popular belief and pattern that the start of the college life is usually associated with the gain of weight. However, this idea still has not been supported with the practical and scientific evidence (Anderson et al 363).
It was indicated in the scope of the study, conducted by Racette ety al (2008) that significant (in terms of statistics) increases in the BMI and weight are demonstrated by the students in the timeframe of their 4 years of college. Even while some of this weight gain was attributed to the naturally normal maturation and growth, it is clearly represented by the scientific evidence that the risk of gains in adipose tissue may be increased in the case of continued durability of this trend within the timeframe of the adulthood of an individual. In order to investigate and assess the further trends of the weight changes, it is critically essential to analyze the body composition changes and then to differentiate the adipose tissue’ gains, bone mineral content and lean body mass.
It is essential to make a note that there is a set of the cases when the dietary behaviors alongside with the self-reported exercise do not match the recommended levels in significant share of the target audience. Such trend represents the high potential of the adverse impacts on the health condition of the students, which, in turn is not related with the potential contribution to weight gain. That is why, it is critically important to incorporate the efforts of universities into the process of enhancement the health awareness among the students and in such way, to popularize the dietary behaviors and favorable exercise, which in turn, are essential and thus, should be integrated into the undergraduate curricula (Racette et al 42).
Finally, while referring to the results of the investigation, conducted by Anderson et al (2003), which is considered as the statistically significant one, it is possible to make a statement that in majority of cases, the increases in weight do not take their places within the timeframe of the college freshman year. There are frequent occurrences when the excess weight, gained at the beginning of the educational process in college (the first semester), is stabilized within the second semester. Such trend is inherent to almost 70 % of freshmen students.
It was indicated that such gain of weight is represented among those students, who have moved from the home of their parents as well as the ones, who have joined student corps. One of the core reasons for such trend is the fact that such students increase the consumption of alcohol and do not maintain the healthy diet. Such trend should be perceived as the challenge due to the fact that in majority of cases, the students, who do not follow the healthy life style, are not willing to change the patterns of their behaviors. In addition, the gender-specific approaches may be needed in such cases due to the set of objective reasons (Vosa et al 223-232).
Thus, Anderson et al (2003) have claimed that there are the frequent cases of the weight gain among the freshman year of college, while the clinical significance for the major part of such students is represented by the amount of weight gain. It means that in the case of identification of the critical periods in terms of gaining weight (such as first year of education in college) as well as addressing the factors, which make their impact on such students, it is possible to develop the effective programs, oriented on prevention of the obesity among the students.
Works cited
Anderson, D.A., Shapiro, J.R., Lundgren, J.D. The freshman year of college as a critical period for weight gain: An initial evaluations. Eating Behaviors 4 (2003) 363–367
Racette, S.B., Deusinger, S.S., Strube, M. J., Highstein, G.R., Deusinger, R.H. Changes in Weight and Health Behaviors from Freshman through Senior Year of College, Nutr Educ Behav. 2008;40:39-42
Vosa, P., Hanck, C., Neisingh, M., Prak, D., Groen, H., Faas, M.M. Weight gain in freshman college students and perceived health. Preventive Medicine Reports Volume 2, 2015, Pages 229–234
