What college men want
What college men want
A new study has identified factors affecting healthy weight maintenance in college-age men that could be used to inform obesity prevention strategies. Researchers in the University of Maine Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, and the Center for Community-Based Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Mass., identified weight-maintenance issues related to eating, physical activity and body perceptions among 47 men, ages 18–24. They found:
- The biggest motivators for healthful eating were sports performance, self-esteem, attractiveness, long-term health and women.
- Among the motivators to pursue physical activity: fitness, self-esteem/to feel better, attractiveness, self-reward, current/future health, relaxation.
- Barriers to healthful eating were dislike for dairy products, tempting (unhealthy) foods, and issues with fruits and vegetables — taste, inaccessibility, spoilage.
- The barriers to physical activity cited: “need more time,” poor time management, obligations, “being lazy,” girlfriends.
Winter 2009
