Vanderbilt students need to get healthier, indicates a nutrition study conducted by School of Nursing Lecturer Jamie Pope in her nutrition class.
According to the study, Vanderbilt students are low in fiber and aren't eating enough servings of fruits and vegetables. Vanderbilt females are low in both calcium and iron.
"Twenty-five percent of girls on this campus are probably anemic or borderline anemic," said Pope. "These intakes are more a reflection of individual food choices than a reflection of what dining services offers."
"Students don't know what their needs are, how many calories they need ... they have nutrition misconceptions," said Dianne Davis, staff dietitian for Dining Services.
Camp Howard, director of Dining Services, attributes students' dietary misconceptions to the media.
"It is amazing to me how misinformed the average students is. It is Dining's responsibility to educate on nutritional awareness and we are up against some tough demons - the media," said Howard.
Pope elaborated on nutritional misconceptions, "Students, particularly ones who are interested in enhancing their lean body mass, think eating a ton of protein will do it ... students eat at least twice what they need in protein."
Pope, who for the past few years has been teaching an undergraduate nutrition class that draws roughly 160-220 students a semester, said she thinks making the class mandatory would be great.
"The value of the class isn't just for knowledge, but for the future ... if they raise children to have more of an understanding and reduce the number of misconceptions in the next generation," Pope said.
Both Camp and Davis agree.
"I think is would help tremendously if the freshmen were required take the nutrition class. It would alleviate myths and set them on the path of what their needs are," Davis said.
"Overall, at the end of the class, the whole group improves their nutrition choices, just taking a nutrition class makes them more aware ... even the subtle changes add up," Pope said.
For more nutrition information, Pope recommended visiting the American Dietetic Association at http://www.eatright.org.
