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People who use the artificial sweetener aspartame are better off
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03 Jan 2015, 08:34
Could someone critique my AWA? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
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, studies 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.
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In this argument the author contends that people who consume aspartame rather than sugar are unlikely to achieve their dietary goals. In support for this claim, two reasons are offered: 1) high levels of aspartame deplete the brain of a satiety registering chemical, and 2) if consumed after at least 45 minutes of continuous exercise, sugar-sweetened food enhances the body’s ability to burn fat, while aspartame-sweetened food does not. Stated this way, the argument manipulates facts and conveys a distorted view of the information. Therefore, the argument is unconvincing and has three major flaws.
Firstly, the author assumes that people who consume aspartame-sweetened products are solely interested in weight loss. This is not necessarily the case, since people suffering from diabetes also consume products that contain artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, for a different reason. From the very beginning, the basis of the entire argument is questionable since it treats aspartame as inferior to sugar in general.
Secondly, the argument assumes that satiety is an indicator that a person will cease to consume food until hungry again. This reasoning is flawed, because a person may continue eating or drinking even when he is not hungry anymore. Moreover, sense of being full and actually eating are not directly correlated; the author does not take into account psychological aspects such as mental strength and determination, or practices such as fasting.
Finally, the author does not clarify how exactly drinking aspartame-sweetened juice after exercise contributes to weight gain. Moreover, he does not reason how sugar contributes to weight loss either. Weight loss is a matter of “calories in” versus “calories out”. A person will lose weight over time if he expends more calories than he consumes. It is not specified in the argument that aspartame contains more calories per unit of measure than sugar. Therefore, aspartame’s lack of a “calorie-burning benefit” is not pivotal if a person’s calorie expenditure is much higher that his consumption.
In conclusion, the author’s argument is flawed for the above mentioned reasons. The claims that support it seem as wishful thinking rather than hard facts. In order to present a strong case, the author should have based his argument on analyzing aspartame from the sole point of view of people who use it for weight loss. In this respect, it would be beneficial to find out whether it contains more calories per unit of measure than sugar. However, phrased in its original way, the argument is unsubstantiated.