TABLE 5.

Recommendations for future research in the field of undergraduate obesity prevention

Priority	Current gap
1. Sample diversity	• Two‐year schools, community colleges, commuter campuses and minority serving institutions are underrepresented in the literature.
	• The available research over‐represents White and female student populations.
2. Study design	Observational research
	• More longitudinal studies are needed.
	Intervention research
	• More randomized controlled trials that sample across multiple campuses are needed.
	• Multi‐pronged (factorial design) studies are needed to understand how individual interventions can be successfully combined, as well as to understand the interactions between them.
	• Promising approaches from observational studies need to be tested using intervention designs (e.g., restricting meal plan points to non‐fast food purchases, providing access to on‐campus food pantries and improving campus walkability/bikeability).
3. Implementation research	• Research is needed to understand factors associated with ease of implementation and sustainability for campus administrations and staff (e.g., exploration of perceived administrative barriers, cost–benefit analyses, documentation of coalition‐building best practices and stakeholder engagement strategies).