El estudio de la protesta social en Andalucía

The following appeared in the health section of a magazine on trends and lifestyles:

"People who use the artificial sweetener aspartame are better off consuming sugar, since aspartame can actually contribute to weight gain rather than weight loss. For example, high levels of aspartame have been shown to trigger a craving for food by depleting the brain of a chemical that registers satiety, or the sense of being full. Furthermore, stud-ies suggest that sugars, if consumed after at least 45 minutes of continuous exercise, actually enhance the body’s ability to burn fat. Consequently, those who drink aspartame-sweetened juices after exercise will also lose this calorie-burning benefit. Thus it appears that people consuming aspartame rather than sugar are unlikely to achieve their dietary goals."

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.

Understand the argument

A trends and lifestyle magazine carried an article that states that it is preferable for people to consume sugar than to ingest aspartame, an artificial sweetener. The article provides two main reasons for the assertion – one, that consuming a high amount of aspartame can lead to weight gain, and two, that sugar, if consumed after at least 45 minutes of working out, can in fact help burn off calories. The article hence concludes that people consuming aspartame instead of sugar would find it difficult to meet their dietary goals.

Faulty assumptions

• People switching to aspartame from sugar all aim to lose weight through this habit

• The normal intake of aspartame for people falls under the ‘high level’ category, as men-tioned in the studies

• Sugar, if not consumed after at least 45 minutes of exercise, will not have a greater adverse effect on calorie loss in people than consuming aspartame

• Taking aspartame after at least 45 minutes of exercise does not have an effect similar to that of sugar on the body’s ability to burn fat

• Consumption of aspartame or sugar is the only factor that decides if people meet their dietary goals or not

Missing evidence

• Proof that the main motive of people switching to aspartame is to reduce weight

• Proof that people consuming aspartame as a substitute for sugar would end up consum-ing high levels of aspartame

• Proof that sugar wouldn’t adversely affect people’s diet goals when consumed before the 45 minute window

• Proof that aspartame too doesn’t have the positive effect of burning off calories when ingested after 45 minutes of rigorous workout

• Proof that having aspartame along with undertaking other healthy habits will not achieve the same dietary results for people (as compared to consuming sugar)

Counter-examples

• What if people switching to aspartame do so for reasons other than losing weight?

• What if people end up consuming very little amount of aspartame and so the ill effects of having high levels of aspartame become immaterial?

• What if consuming sugar, when not accompanied by continuous exercise, has adverse effects on calorie loss far greater than the positive effects it has otherwise?

• What if aspartame too, when taken after a fairly sufficient time of exercise, enhances the body’s ability to burn fats just as sugar does?

• What if, by making other changes in their dietary habits, people can achieve their diet goals with aspartame as well as they can with sugar?

The essay

The health section of a trends and lifestyle magazine features an article on why it is more pru-dent for people to go back to sugar than to have aspartame, an artificial sweetener. The article quotes the findings of two studies to show how aspartame can actually pull you back from your weight loss track by making you pile up calories, and how sugar can actually accelerate your body’s ability to burn fat. The studies, of course, come with their share of disclaimers but the article goes on to build the argument by generalizing the findings for people at large – disclaimers notwithstanding – and concludes that aspartame is a bad choice for people looking to achieve their dietary goals.

Right in the beginning, the argument commits a blunder in assuming that all people who take to aspartame as a substitute for sugar do so for losing weight. It is very likely that there are other reasons for people to discontinue sugar and go for an artificial sweetener, say, for ex-ample, controlling blood sugar levels, being allergic to sugar or its components, or just aiming for better health. It is obvious that if there are individuals who consume aspartame for any of these reasons, the original argument of sugar being better than aspartame for it aids weight loss, falls flat. Conceding that weight loss is indeed the main motive for people to switch to the artificial sweetener, one can spot another flaw in the argument in the term “high levels of

aspartame”. The argument states that certain studies have shown that consuming high levels of aspartame makes you crave for more food and you may in fact end up consuming more calories than you hoped to cut down by reducing your sugar intake. Now, what is labeled high by the studies may be quite different from what people in general end up consuming. That is, it is likely that people only ingest small quantities of aspartame and hence this effect doesn’t show up on them.

The article builds the argument further by stating that while aspartame can make you eat more, cutting down on sugar can leave people bereft of the calorie burning advantage that comes with consuming it after 45 minutes of continuous exercise. This point is questionable on two grounds. Firstly, it doesn’t take into account the possibility that aspartame can also have a similar effect when followed by a rigorous exercise routine. Secondly, the argument is silent on the effects of consuming sugar immediately after a workout or without it. It is possible that sugar, when consumed in such a manner, in fact adds far more calories than it helps you burn after a workout. Hence, it is not logical to suggest that having sugar in place of aspartame is better in general, when the positive effect of consuming sugar is conditional.

Finally, the conclusion of the argument is also flawed in that it fails to take into account other factors that may affect how, when and if people meet their dietary goals. It limits the discus-sion to only sugar and aspartame and without any substantial evidence, ends up concluding that people who take aspartame are unlikely to achieve their dietary goals. It is possible that people can indeed lose weight while being on aspartame, provided they supplement it with other healthy changes in their lifestyle.

In summary, the argument picks and chooses instances that support the assertion without providing evidence that can vouch for the claim. It also fails to take into account other aspects that may affect the assertion. It is, in conclusion, a partial and limited analysis and needs to be substantiated further for the claim to be indisputable.