Our academic experts are ready and waiting to assist with any writing project you may have. From simple essay plans, through to full dissertations, you can guarantee we have a service perfectly matched to your needs.
GET A 40% DISCOUNT ON YOU FIRST ORDER
ORDER NOW DISCOUNT CODE >>>> WELCOME40
The Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Debate
Review the 4 articles provided on Moodle.
Bleich and Vercammen (2018) “The negative impact of sugar-sweetened beverages on children’s health: an update of the literature.”
Rippe and Angelopolous (2016) “Relationship between Added Sugars Consumption and Chronic Disease Risk Factors:
Current Understanding”
Hu (2013) “Pro v Con Debate: Role of sugar sweetened beverages in obesity Resolved: There is sufficient scientific evidence that decreasing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption will reduce the prevalence of obesity and obesity-related diseases”
Kaiser, Shikany, Keating & Allison (2013) “Pro v Con Debate: Role of sugar sweetened beverages in obesity – Will reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption reduce obesity? Evidence supporting conjecture is strong, but evidence when testing effect is weak”
_______________
Answer the following questions:
What were the conclusions regarding Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in each of these articles?
_______________
Consider the evidence presented:
How were the studies that were cited in each article selected?
How many studies were analyzed?
What was the total number of subjects considered in each article?
Did you see an overlap of studies cited between the articles?
Did you find reasons to suspect bias in selection of the studies considered in any of the papers?
_______________
Conflicts of interest:
Were there statements of Conflict of Interest Statements in these articles (usually at the end)?
What were the sources of funding of the authors involved and/or their institutions?
Do you feel that sources of funding might have led to bias or intentional manipulation of the studies selected and the interpretations offered in each article?
______________
Looking deeper:
Take a look at the following websites for information regarding the authors of these articles:
Dr. Bleich – https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/sara-bleich/
Ms. Vercammen – https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/eric-rimm/kelsey-vercammen/
Dr. Rippe – https://rippehealth.com/index.htm (business website – he is the most consistently associated with industry of all of the authors)
Dr. Angelopoulos – https://www.ehc.edu/live/profiles/296-ted-angelopoulos
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=1171123
Dr. Hu – https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/frank-hu/
Dr. Allison – https://info.publichealth.indiana.edu/faculty/current/allison-david.shtml
Dr. Kaiser – https://www.soph.uab.edu/faculty/hb/kathryn_kaiser-0
Dr. Keating – https://www.k-state.edu/stats/people/keating.html
Dr. Shikany – http://www.norc.uab.edu/people/jshikany
Keeping in mind that sources of funding are not the only sources of scientific bias (a scientist who believes he/she has the “right” answer can also be influenced by personal biases or inadequate consideration of applicable research, even in the absence of any financial incentive), do you feel that you can be confident of validity of arguments presented by the authors of each respective article? Explain your sources of concern or confidence for each paper.
_____________
After reading these articles what is your level of confidence that Sugar-Sweetened Beverage and/or added sugars in general are an important etiological factor in the rise in rates of obesity or obesity associated diseases in the United States? Explain why.