Argument88 [5 UP] 第二十一次作业 by grandepoch

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======================Argument 88======================
The following appeared in a newsletter about health published in the country of Sauria.

"According to Sauria's leading nutritional experts, a diet high in complex carbohydrates, and low in fat is optimal for good health and longevity. Because this was the diet of the people who lived in ancient Sauria, one would expect them to have had long and healthy lives. Yet the mummified remains of Sauria's ruling classes from two to three thousand years ago show the existence of many medical problems among the ancient Saurians, including dental problems, elevated blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, and early mortality. Clearly, the diet of the ancient Saurians was responsible for these problems. The high incidence of high blood pressure, obesity, and heart disease in Sauria today even among those who have tried low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets further proves that Sauria's leading nutritional experts are wrong."




TOPIC: ARGUMENT88 -
WORDS: 389          TIME: 0:30:00          DATE: 2007-7-24

This newsletter points out the conclusion that a diet high in complex carbohydrate and low in fat is best for good health and longevity made by Sauria's leading nutritional experts are wrong. To substantiate this, the author cited mummified remains of Sauria's ruling classes and Sauria's today citizen's eating habits as contention. This arguement contains several logical problems which made it unconvincing.

To begin with, the mummified remains of Sauria's ruling classes have many medical problems such as obesity, heart diseases is no indication that diets high in carbohydrate and low in fat will cause such kind of diseases. The reason are as follows: there is no evidence to provide that the ruling classes had eatten the foods high in carnohydrate low in fat, it is possible what they had eatten is opposite, that is to say their eating habits is low in carbohydrate and low in fat. Moreover, thousands of years have passed, human being's eating habits have taken great changes, perhaps the eating habits followed by Sauria's ruling classes is greatly different from the standards set by today's nutritional experts. In such situations, the athour's evidence will not convince me to believe that the nutritional experts' contention is wrong.

Secondly, the author cites that today people who have tried low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets still have high incidence of high blood pressure, obesity and heart disease. Common sense tell us that disease such as obesity are influenced by different facors such as exercise, diet style and hereditary. It is entirely possible, people who have high incidence of such kind of disease are the people who lack exercises, or perhaps they are more easy to suffer from such kind of diseases because of gene and that they have other diet habits except the diets high in carbydrate and low in fat which have outstanding influence on the incidence.

In sum, the argument is not persuasive as it stands. To strengthen the arguement, the author should take some biochemistry experiments to establish a causal relationship between diet style especially the diets high in carbohydrate, low in fat and the incidence of the diseases such as high blood pressure, obesity and heart disease. And if permitted, the author should take some population survey to find a real relationship between diet style and diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease.