Education

SCIENCE: Today’s College Football Linemen Are FAT TUBS OF LARD

large offensive line Getty Images/Stephen Dunn

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A Tufts University School of Medicine study has concluded that college football players who play offensive line positions have become really fat in the last 60 years.

The study, released earlier this month in the Journal of Athletic Training, found that today’s average offensive lineman is 38 percent heavier than a typical offensive lineman in 1956, reports United Press International.

By way of comparison, the weight of the average twentysomething American male has increased by just 12 percent during the same six-decade period.

The Tufts study used data from the rosters of 10 schools in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Schools which are currently part of the NCAA Division III conference include the Bowdoin College Polar Bears, the Trinity College Bantams and Tufts University’s very own — aptly named — Jumbos.

Researchers at the Boston-area liberal arts school examined player data from 1956 through 2014 — at intervals of five years.

While the weights of offensive linemen skyrocketed by average of 38 percent from 1956 to 2014, their heights increased by an average of only 3.8 percent during this time frame.

That can only mean one thing, of course: offensive linemen grew mostly outward.

In 1956, the average body mass index of the linemen analyzed was 26. In 2014, the average body mass index was almost 34.

Body mass index, typically called BMI, is one tool used to identify whether people are overweight, according to the American Heart Association. It is not even close to always being an accurate tool. (RELATED: Florida School Sends Letter Home Calling This Girl Fat)

In any case, doctors consider human beings obese if they have BMIs over 30.

In 2014, almost one-third of the offensive linemen studied boasted a BMI over 35.

In 1956, exactly zero offensive linemen had BMIs over 35.

“Selective recruiting, weight training” and “hyper-nutrition” have caused “a population of large linemen,” Tufts pathobiology professor David Greenblatt matter-of-factly explained, according to United Press International.

“The public health issue is that everybody involved with American football needs to develop concerted ways to assure the health of players when their football days are over,” Greenblatt added.

Overweight people tend to have more incidents of high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, the study observed.

The Tufts researchers noted that football players at other positions — e.g., quarterback and wide receiver — have not experienced the physiological changes seen in offensive linemen.

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