Popular Science Article Analysis

Popular Science Article Analysis

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Popular Science Article Analysis

        Obesity and being over weight are health conditions that affect a significant portion of the population in many countries, and in the US it has been declared as an issue of concern. There exist numerous approaches and interventions aimed at managing being overweight and obesity, but the problem is still persistent. Obesity and being overweight results in numerous diseases and conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension or high blood pressure, and in some extreme cases, liver and kidney complications. It has been postulated that being overweight and obese utilizes a lot of resources and time that would have been put to greater use treating, preventing, and managing other life threatening diseases and conditions such cancer and HIV. Obesity and being overweight is a lifestyle disease that can be prevented and avoided if people changed their lifestyles and adopted healthier eating habits. Numerous interventions and treatments have formulated to combat the ever-increasing number of people suffering from obesity and being overweight, but they all seem to have a drawback or they not deliver as promised. Science still remains the greatest hope of developing a novel approach and intervention towards preventing and managing obesity.

Popular Media Article

        An article found in a popular science website called the Sciencedaily.com states that scientists have established that taking a high protein diet promotes weight loss. The website sources its information from the Society of Endocrinology, where the research scientists published their research study findings (Society for Endocrinology, 2016). Mariana Norton and Amin AlamShah claim that a high protein diet promotes weight loss in that the end product of protein metabolism yields phenylalanine a substance that triggers a hormone responsible for reducing appetite in rodents used in the experiment. The authors posit that increasing an understanding of how a high protein diet promotes weight loss could be used to formulate and develop novel interventions to combat the overweight and obesity epidemic affecting a significant portion of the world’s population.

        People would be interested in reading the article because it provides them with a simple and often attainable approach of tackling their overweight and obesity problems. The article claims that the end products of protein metabolism such phenylalanine trigger hormones responsible for influencing appetite in rodents used in the experiment (Society for Endocrinology, 2016). Accordingly, the article uses previous research findings to fortify the authors’ notion; earlier research illustrates that a protein diet confers a feeling of being fuller in the stomach. The feeling of being full works to discourage people from eating excessively. The information presented in the article is likely to make people sceptical about the notion of protein working to promote weight loss. This observation is based on the fact that high protein intake has been associated with the development of diseases and conditions such as coronary thrombosis due to the accumulation of fats in blood vessels (Jordi et al., 2013). The article is more likely to prompt people to conduct more research into the issue to establish whether it is possible to lose weight by consuming more proteins. Norton and Alamshah posit that hormone Ghrelin that is responsible for telling the body it is hungry is suppressed by a hormone called GLP-1 that confers a feeling of satiety (Society for Endocrinology, 2016). The study revealed that the end product of protein metabolism produced phenylalanine that interacted with calcium sensing receptors in the gut, which then work to increase the levels of GLP-1 resulting in suppressed appetite. The article mentions the number of mice used in the experiment, but it does refer to the statistical measures used.

Scientific Journal Article

        The scientific journal article published on Wiley.com by Alamshah et al titled L-Arginine Pronmotes Gut Hormone Release and Reduces Food Intake in Rodents claims that a high protein diet works to reduce appetite and promote weight loss in rodents. According to the authors, a high protein diet confers a feeling of satiety and promotes weight loss. The authors postulate that a high protein diet works to reduce food intake by influencing pathways that regulate appetite. These pathways include increased thermogenesis, alterations in gut hormone profiles, and intestinal glucogenesis. The researchers investigated the effects of amino acids released from the metabolism of protein including L-Arginine (L-Arg), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), peptide YY (PYY), G-protein coupled recptor (GPRC6A), and the vergus nerve that mediate their effects in mice used in the experiment (Kinsey‐Jones et al., 2015). The results garnered from the study indicated that L-Arg worked to reduce food intake in mice and the chronic overconsumption of food in obese rodents.