As researchers find that more and more Americans are overweight, students at the University of Central Florida are sharing their discoveries about exercise, nutrition and weight control.
Graduate students will present their research findings related to healthy lifestyles at the Wellness Research Conference, which will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 31, in Room 130 of the Teaching Academy.
The conference is open to the public and will feature six presentations by 22 graduate students in the applied exercise physiology track of the sport and exercise science master’s program. Topics include gender differences in exercise choices, breakfast habits, physical activity guidelines, and health and fitness goals.
The conference was organized by Assistant Professor Maren Fragala to showcase the work of students in her Exercise, Nutrition and Weight Control class.
“Our class is holding this research conference for the community because, as our students learned during the course of the semester, two out of three American adults are at an elevated body weight that could put them at increased risk for chronic disease,” Fragala said.
She said healthy weight control is not as simple as balancing exercise and nutrition. There are many intricate factors that influence the regulation of body weight, such as one’s living environment, she said.
Fragala encourages members of the public to attend the conference so that they may gain from her students’ research.
“Part of the solution to the weight-control epidemic is knowledge,” she said. “We are hoping that by sharing the knowledge that our students generated with the Central Florida community, we can perhaps make a small contribution to improving Central Florida’s health.”
For more information on the Wellness Research Conference or to RSVP, contact Fragala at maren.fragala@ucf.edu.