【big fish】3月20日Argument162-by jjooyy

jjooyyUID: 2704028

TOPIC: ARGUMENT162 - A recent study shows that people living on the continent of North America suffer 9 times more chronic fatigue and 31 times more chronic depression than do people living on the continent of Asia. Interestingly, Asians, on average, eat 20 grams of soy per day, whereas North Americans eat virtually none. It turns out that soy contains phytochemicals called isoflavones, which have been found to possess disease-preventing properties. Thus, North Americans should consider eating soy on a regular basis as a way of preventing fatigue and depression.

The arguer draws a conclusion that eating soy on a regular basis could prevent fatigue and depression for North Americans. However, there are some logic fallacies in the argument, some of which I would point out as below.

To begin with, the author assumes that because of isoflavones, soy can be helpful to prevent fatigue and depression, which is untenable. The existence of isoflavones in soy only helps possess disease-prevention properties. Obviously, whether one can possess disease-prevention properties is dependent on what he or she eats for meals. Chances are, if one does not get any disease-prevention properties, having soy can be useless. In addition, disease-prevention is not equivalent with fatigue-prevention and depression and they are not closely linked at all. Thereby, there is little evidence soy can prevent fatigue and depression.

In addition, the reason that Asian people get less chronic fatigue and chronic depression may not be soy. There might be other reasons responsible to the scenario. Maybe other vegetables that Asians also eat much more than North Americans contribute to the result. And the average constitution of ordinary people needs to be taken into consideration. In addition, whether these two kinds of people have similar pressure is also important.

Finally, the author suggests eating soy without examining the disadvantages of it. Eating soy on a regular basis could have other side effects. For example, soy may contain a high level of fat, carbohydrate or calories. In this sense, eating it every day would more or less lead to overweight. Also possibly is that some potential substances causing cancer or other diseases may exist in soy.

To sum up, the author not only wrongly assumes soy can prevent fatigue and depression, but also is the reason that Asians have less chronic fatigue and chronic depression. Further, he or she does not consider the negative effect of the suggestion.