Holiday Weight Gain in College Students
A recent study by obesity specialist Martin Binks has revealed a fascinating difference in how weight gain during the holiday season affects college students compared to older adults.
Unlike their older counterparts, college students may gain weight over the holidays, but the type of weight they gain tends to be muscle rather than fat.
Insights from a Metabolic Disease Expert
Binks, who is a professor and the head of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at George Mason University, points out how crucial it is to consider life stages when discussing weight changes and overall health.
He is eager to explore what factors might be influencing this disparity in holiday weight gain between young adults and more mature populations in future research.
Research Methodology
For over 20 years, Binks has worked tirelessly as a metabolic disease scientist and clinician, helping individuals improve their health and achieve their weight loss goals.
The insights from this recent study were gathered through an initiative led by undergraduate students, who were guided by graduate students under Binks’s mentorship.
The findings of this intriguing study are detailed in a paper titled “Holiday Weight Change in a US College Student Sample: A Prospective Observational Cohort Study,” published in January 2025, which employed natural language processing techniques to analyze the data.
Source: ScienceDaily