Colleges are taking matters into their own hands to improve the unhealthy lifestyles of young adults in light of a recent Fox News study that reported one-third of college students have body mass indexes in the overweight range.

Paul Quinn College in Texas has taken a dramatic stance on the movement by banning pork in its dining halls.

Michael Sorrel, president of Paul Quinn College, has been enforcing healthier options in the school’s dining halls since he became president five years ago, according to an Aug. 9 Huffington Post article. Sorrel even eliminated the school’s football team in 2010 and turned the extra space into a garden that produces the school’s vegetables and fruits.

Sorrel announced in an Aug. 8 campus news update that the college will no longer serve dishes containing pork starting fall 2012 and in each following semester.

“We know there are many negative health consequences of consuming pork (eating pork can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cancer, sodium retention and heart problems, not to mention weight gain and obesity),” Sorrel said in the news update.

The college and its food service partner, Perkins Management, have altered the cafeteria menu to make it exclude pork entirely in an effort to improve the health of students, Sorrel said in the news update.

Julie DuBois, a nutritionist and dietician from Dallas, Texas said that while removing pork products from one’s diet might be effective in creating a healthier lifestyle, they are sometimes necessary.

Many colleges are following Paul Quinn’s example. Twenty-eight colleges participate in The Monday Campaigns to encourage healthier lifestyles among college students. Some colleges even have gone to the extent of enforcing mandatory physical education classes.

“Limiting processed foods on college campuses would be beneficial, but I think mandatory physical education classes are unrealistic,” DuBois said. “I remember being a college student and having a really heavy course load. Students just need to be able to make healthier decisions on their own. They need to know, on their own, when to skip the desserts.”

Published on August 30, 2012 at 1:41 am

Contact Charlotte: cmstockd@syr.edu