Allison Barker
Current Event Review
AP Biology
Hulick, Kathryn. "Could Toothpaste Give Heart Disease the Brush-off?" Science News for
Students. N.p., 23 Nov. 2016. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.
The article that I read, “Could Toothpaste Give Heart Disease the Brush-off?” by Kathryn Hulick, describes a study in which 61 men and women between the ages of 19 and 44 were split into two groups, one which used regular toothpaste and one which used a toothpaste that turns the plaque on teeth green, in order to see if the new toothpaste had an effect on the amount of plaque in the mouths of the subjects. Both groups followed the same teeth-brushing instructions for 60 days, and at the end of two months, the group that had used the new plaque-dying toothpaste had removed twice as much plaque as the other group. As a buildup of plaque is thought to lead to other, more severe problems, this new toothpaste could prove very helpful. Further, the researchers then measured the levels of C-reactive protein, or CRP, in the blood of the subjects. CRP is an indicator of inflammation, so lower CRP levels would mean less inflammation in the body. Inflammation is dangerous, and excessive inflammation can point to health conditions such as obesity. The combination of a fat buildup in the arteries and inflammation can lead to a higher risk of heart disease. Among the patients who had used the special plaque-dying toothpaste, CRP levels had dropped 20%. However, among the patients who had been brushing with regular toothpaste, CRP levels, and therefore inflammation levels, had actually risen. This study suggests that there might be a link between eliminating plaque using the special toothpaste, thereby reducing inflammation in the gums, and lowering inflammation throughout the body, although researchers cannot be sure without further examination.
The results of this study are extremely important to society. In the current age, people, especially teenagers, are less active and more overweight than they used to be, and this can lead to much higher rates of heart disease. If there were a way to help protect the body against such a dangerous ailment, especially if it was as easy as brushing your teeth with a certain product, that would be a major step forward and would be accessible to everyone, as toothpaste is more affordable than medicine. Further, an increased focus on heart disease prevention would benefit people by raising awareness about the importance of a healthy lifestyle. A toothpaste that protects against heart disease would serve as a reminder to people that they need to treat their bodies with care.
I enjoyed this article because I found it very informative. I had known that plaque was linked to heart disease, but I had never been able to understand how the two were linked. Learning that plaque causes gum inflammation was valuable to me for this reason. I also liked that the author was very clear about the uncertainty of the results of the study while also being optimistic about what these new findings could mean for the future. I appreciated that the author included details about further steps that the researchers were planning to take. However, one thing that I did not like about the article was the lack of depth in the description of the study. There are many ways that an experiment can be designed, and some of them can lead to misleading results. Therefore, I would like to have been told how the participants were selected and how they were assigned to groups. Overall, though, this article taught me about the importance of brushing teeth, a task which many often find mundane.
Allison Barker provided a terrific summary of the article she read. Allison gives the general topic of the article by discussing what it would be trying to prove and then got into the specifics after the reader got an understanding of the topic. Within her summary, Allison explains the discoveries discussed in the article and how new toothpaste could help people's health greatly. A second aspect that Allison did well was her ability to connect the importance of the article to society. Having this toothpaste become a reality would allow for many people to improve their health at a cheap price. This could lower the rate of heart issues and other major health problems throughout the country. A third aspect that allison did well was her inclusion of a proper link at the top of her article. This allows interested readers to further investigate the article and educate themselves.
ReplyDeleteOne area of her response that Allison could have improved was her initial description of the article. Allison jumped right into the study being evaluated in the article instead of opening with the overall subject. This would have prepared the readers mentally for the detailed description of the study. A second improvement that Allison could have made was her structure of her response. Allison only had two paragraphs instead of splitting them up into three. This disrupted the flow of her response and made it visually unappealing to the reader.
After reading Allison’s response, I learned that there is a correlation between plaque and heart disease. I also am now aware that a toothpaste is being designed where it would be far more efficient in reducing plaque, which would be extremely beneficial to people's health.
Sophia Dibbini November 29, 2016
ReplyDeleteI read the review of and the article “Could Toothpaste Give Heart Disease the Brush-off?” by Science News and I found it very interesting. I liked how the author of the review describes and talks about a study that took place that focused on this topic: if toothpaste had an effect on the amount of plaque in the mouths of the subjects. It provided the reader with more information as to the importance of this topic. Also, I liked how the author and the author of the review went into detail about each trial and gave statistics to draw in the readers. Lastly, I liked how the author stressed the importance of the results and connected it to society saying people, especially teenagers, are less active and more overweight than they used to be, and this can lead to much higher rates of heart disease. If there were a way to help protect the body against such a dangerous ailment, especially if it was as easy as brushing your teeth with a certain product, that would be a major step forward and would be accessible to everyone, as toothpaste is more affordable than medicine. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this article and I liked many aspects.
Even though there were many strong aspects, there were some negatives. For example, the author of the article could have described the trial more carefully and detailed because it was very confusing at some parts and did not make sense. Also, I did not like how the author did not include another experiment done with the same variables, because there could have been an error in that experiment that could have produced incorrect results and data. Even though there are some negatives, I really enjoyed reading this article.
I learned a lot from reading this article. First, I learned about a topic I never pay attention to: if toothpaste affects heart disease. This topic is very distinguishing and unique and learning about it really expanded my knowledge. Also, I learned about a new type of protein, C-reactive protein, and CRP (an indicator of inflammation, so lower CRP levels would mean less inflammation in the body), which I found very interesting. This article and topic greatly impacts society because people take medication and eat foods without knowing how it affects you and learning more about it would be very helpful. Overall, I greatly enjoyed reading this article and I look forward to learning more about this topic in the future.
Hulick, Kathryn. "Could Toothpaste Give Heart Disease the Brush-off?" Science News for
ReplyDeleteStudents. N.p., 23 Nov. 2016. Web. 16 Dec. 2016. .
In Ali’s review of “Could Toothpaste Give Heart Disease the Brush-off?”, she did a great job of summarizing the article. She added a nice amount of detail, so I was able to understand the research and its results. In addition, she did a good job of explaining certain things further, such as C-reactive Protein and its effects. She stated that CRP is an indicator of inflammation, so lower CRP levels means less inflammation in the body. A third thing Ali did a good job of doing was relating the topic to society. She said how today’s teenagers are less active and more overweight than before, so learning of ways to prevent plaque-related disease is extremely important.
On the other hand, I think Ali could improve her article review. First, she forgot to split up the first and second paragraph by using “enter” like how she did for the third paragraph, so it looks like one long paragraph. By splitting them up by using “enter”, I think it would have helped the visual flow of her writing. Another thing I think could’ve been added is an evaluation of the author’s legitimacy. The article was written by Kathryn Hulick, who I saw online is a children’s writer. She most likely does not have much experience in the science field, so I think there is a possibility that some information from the article could be incorrect.
After reading this article, I learned that plaque-dying toothpaste can kill up to twice as much plaque than regular toothpaste. Additionally, people who used the plaque-dying toothpaste had lower CRP levels, which means they have less inflammation in the body. This decrease in inflammation can help prevent serious health problems, such as heart disease. I chose this article review because of the title. It immediately drew me in because I was curious as to how toothpaste could be related to heart disease prevention. From now on, I am going to buy plaque-dying toothpaste, as it has more benefits than just cleaning my teeth better.