Some people come to college expecting to gain weight. For others, the threat of the “freshman 15” is just an urban legend.

Many ISU faculty and staff members have said this rumor is a little myth and a little reality.

“There’s some truth to most myths,” said Paul Flakoll, professor of food science and human nutrition. But, he said, the concept is not necessarily going to apply to every person.

Flakoll, director for the Center for Designing Foods to Improve Nutrition, said the impact of college living varies with each student.

“There is a definite lifestyle change students experience in college,” Flakoll said. “Some experience increased stress. Some respond the other way and lose weight rather than gain it.”

Flakoll suggests students be sensible about their eating habits and the amount of physical activity they allow themselves.

“I think students should try to take control of their lifestyles,” Flakoll said. “Instead of eating at two in the morning and eating a lot at different times, students should try to include physical activity to acquire an organized healthy lifestyle.”

Ruth Litchfield, ISU Extension nutritionist, said students are responsible for making the weight gain myth a reality for themselves.

“It’s very much an individual issue,” said Litchfield, assistant professor of food science and human nutrition.

“There’s definitely an environment conducive to that.”

Usually students overindulge themselves because of the increased options offered by dining services in college, she said.

“Most students come from homes with limited portions for eating, whereas, the Department of Residence dining halls are set up as a buffet, where there’s a multitude of choices,” Litchfield said.

A change in students’ physical activity levels can impact their susceptibility to the extra weight gain as well, she said.

“If a student comes from a background being involved with high school athletics, when they get to college, they need to replace that activity with something else,” Litchfield said.

A study conducted at Iowa State during the 1997-98 school year, however, showed that weight gain correlates with genetics as well.

Oksana Matvienko, undeclared graduate student and researcher, worked with others on a nutrition course six years ago that aimed to teach students how to control their weight.

For the course, the researchers recruited 40 young women, with 19 in a control group who didn’t take the course and 21 in the intervention group that did.

Students in the course were taught to actively watch their weight, while students in both groups were weighed periodically throughout the year, Matvienko said.

“Rather than telling the students what to eat and what not to eat, we wanted them to learn how their behavior affected their body weight,” Matvienko said.

Matvienko said the study found that none of the students gained much weight over the year.

She said it has more to do with genetics, in addition to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

As far as the “freshman 15” goes, Matvienko said that students in general don’t gain the weight; however, people who are naturally overweight will be more susceptible to gaining weight if they don’t learn to control it.

“Women who were already overweight in the intervention group didn’t gain much because they learned to control it,” Matvienko said. She said there was a noted difference in the weight gain of the students in the control group after a year.

“The bottom line is this: You want to prevent weight gain among people more receptive to gaining it,” Matvienko said.

The results of Matvienko’s study didn’t surprise some freshman.

Eboni Dale, freshman in apparel merchandising, design and production, said she’s not worried about the weight gain, but many girls are.

“Gaining weight is not a big deal to me because I’ve always been skinny,” Dale said. “I do hear that 15 pounds is the expected weight for girls, but I don’t know about the guys. I’m not really worried because I could use a couple extra pounds.”

Dale said she agrees with faculty members about the need for students being more careful about their food intake and eating habits.

“We tend to eat just because we can and we don’t pay attention to what we eat,” Dale said.