"university" news and stories

A group of Swedish university students is taking part in a study that is recreating Morgan Spurlock's fast food experiment, Super Size Me, in laboratory conditions. Under the supervision of professor Fredrik Nyström, two groups of young medical school students are stuffing themselves with fast foods and avoiding exercise. All of the calories they eat must come from fast food, although they are allowed to make breakfast at home so long as it was "bacon-and-eggs based".

Nyström thought it would have been more difficult to find people willing to participate, but the students were more than eager. More men than women applied and the chosen were the most highly motivated, who were likely to stick to the 6,000 calories-a-day diet. All their food throughout the study would be paid for and they were provided with bus passes so they would not have to walk any more than necessary. The only control on the study was that the Swedish ethics board said the participants must be removed from the study if they increased their bodyweight by more than 15%.

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The freshman 15 may be a myth, but college students still face a lot of challenges when it comes to eating healthy. Greasy foods, especially pizzas, seem to be everywhere as clubs and other organizations try to lure students into their meetings. It is tempting, and myth or not, a student can still gain more weight than they would like if they don't watch what they eat. Just keep a couple of tips in mind and you should emerge from your freshman year no heavier than when you entered it.

• Low fat yogurt is a great food to keep in the mini fridge. Yogurts come in so many flavors that you're unlikely to get bored with them, and they can be mixed with fresh fruits or even some granola for a change of pace. Yogurts also frequently go on sale, so stock up by buying at those times.
• Trail mix, GORP or any other combination of nuts and dried fruits is a good snack to have around. The nuts are healthy and filling, while the fruits add a sweetness. A handful or two should put a stop to any candy-bar cravings you might have.

While some may have gained some weight during their first year at college, new studies are showing that the phenomenon known as the "freshman 15" doesn't have much more than word-of-mouth behind it. The term first appeared in the mid 1980s in the Chicago Tribune, where the fact that it was a large enough number to inspire worry, but not so large that it seemed unbelievable, kept it going. So will students entering college really gain 15-pounds in their first year? A study from Rutgers that was published last month showed that 25% of students (Rutgers students) lost weight during their first year, while 75% gained an average of 7 pounds. "Nobody gained 15 pounds," said the professor behind the study.

Of course, some students will go overboard and binge on pizza and vending machine snacks without any supervision but their own, but many students will not. College eating halls are offering healthier options all the time, so students are more likely to see organic, vegetarian and vegan options, along with lean meats and plenty of healthy veggies, rather than just greasy, fried fare.

Perhaps the "freshman 15" is really just a reminder to try to keep kids on a healthier track and, if so, perhaps the fact that most students aren't seeing that kind of weight gain is reason enough to keep it going.

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Thanks to Sarah, we now know which universities the Princeton Review thinks have the best on-campus food, but most college students will be happy to tell you that off-campus food is almost always better. With schools starting up right and left, students need to be prepared to find those places because greasy pizzas and pb&j gets boring pretty quickly. CampusFood.com is a website that allows users to search for lists of off-campus eateries and order their food online from the menus published on the site. Their ever-growing database includes independent restaurants and chains. Delivery is up to the individual restaurant (some only allow pick-up orders), but not only is this a boon to college students who want to really streamline their days, it is good for small restaurants whose primary business comes from college student, making them more accessible to their tech-savvy (and hungry) customer base.

By the way, the services offered by the website are not limited to college students - anyone can order food online as long as they are near enough for either delivery or pickup.

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I hate to be the one to break this to lifestyle reporters everywhere, but whining about the names of the drinks and the options at Starbucks is old. Very old. We've been there, we know what the names are and we have a great deal of pity that you find the option to have non-fat, low-fat or whole milk in your coffee to be "dizzying." They have medications to treat that sort of thing, you know.

If you want to cover something interesting, why don't you take a look at what cultural and social anthropologists (or historians masquerading as such) are studying when they visit Starbucks. Bryant Simon, a professor at Temple University, observes the patrons who visit Starbucks instead of the coffee shop's menu. He has done research at hundreds of Starbucks in six countries, looking at behaviors of the modern coffee consumer and learning about "cafe culture" in an age of globalization. He believes that Starbucks help fill "some kind of deep desire for connection with other people" without actually having to interact with them. The coffee shops, Simon says, are "selling comfort," letting people be anonymous together in an atmosphere that doesn't vary much from place to place; predictability is actually a somewhat rare virtue in a rapidly moving and changing world. And the effect spreads beyond America's borders, as patrons in other countries often exhibit similar behaviors and look for the same comforting things.

His paper, his "opus," will be titled Consuming Starbucks and will reach publication in 2008.

[Photo by Sarah Gilbert]

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