As the daughter of immigrants, I had no idea what the Freshman 15 was. That ignorance disappeared quickly when I went home for Thanksgiving freshman year and stepped on the scale for the first time since starting college. Why is weight gain at university so anecdotally common?

Researchers decided to investigate the matter. By tracking the food intake and factors such as eating behaviors and environment of dozens of American college students, the team found that the college environment facilitates tendencies that lead to eating more and thus gaining more weight.

“Social and environmental factors are key determinants of eating behavior. College students are affected by the eating environment, especially where they eat and whom they eat with,” Y. Alicia Hong, a professor in the Department o

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