Franke,

Megan Franke

Writing 2
Roberta Wolfson
14 March 2016
Academic Genres Approach to Hyperphagia
Approximately 30-40% of the Western World population is overweight or obese.
Logically it follows to ask, what is the cause of this change? An obvious factor connected to a
persons weight is the amount of food they consume. Extreme overconsumption of food is a
medical condition called hyperphagia. People with hyperphagia have an insatiable appetite so
they eat constantly. In hopes of gaining a better understanding of this condition, academics from
a wide range of disciplines conduct studies to find clues leading to answers. In their scholarly
article from the field of biology, Effect of Diet on Preference and Intake of Sucrose in Obese
Prone and Resistant Rats, Frank Duca and Timothy Swartz conduct an experiment comparing
rats with and without hyperphagia. In their article Emotional overeating and its associations
with eating disorder psychopathology among overweight patients with Binge eating disorder,
Robin Masheb and Carlos Grilo observe hyperphagia in humans from a psychological
standpoint, carrying out a survey of people with Binge Eating Disorder. The biological article by
Duca and Swartz is more reliable in providing insight into hyperphagia than the psychological
article by Masheb and Grilo because the structure of their experiment offers concrete, numerical
data to support their findings while the answers collected by the survey are highly subjective as
people must give evaluate their own eating habits.
In their biology article, Duca and Swartz argue that how many calories a person
consumes is related to whether or not they are obesity prone, test their hypothesis through an
experiment upon rats, and conclude that their hypothesis is true. Duca and Swartz conducted an

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experiment to examine the relationship between oral detection of sweet stimuli and the
consumption of such foods (Duca and Swartz,1). Over a four-week period, 66 male rats (38
obesity prone and 38 obesity resistant) were divided into two groups and fed either a chow or
high energy feed. The high energy feed contained more calories and a higher concentration of
sucrose. The authors found that the obesity prone rats had decreased oral sensitivity to sucrose,
and preference towards food with higher sucrose concentration (Duca and Swartz,4). They also
conclude that it is unclear if decreased oral sensitivity is also what leads to overconsumption of
sugary and energy dense foods (Duca and Swartz, 4). The results imply that the same could be
true for humans as well. The hope of their experiment is that the results may extend to apply to
not only rats but also humans which would provide insight to the causes of hyperphagia.
The evidence Duca and Swartz use to support their argument is entirely quantitative,
comparing the weights of the rats and how many calories they consumed thus leaving no room
for ambiguity in the results. At the end of the four-week study, the weights of the obesity
resistant and obesity prone rats were compared. It was found that high energy fed obesity prone
rats weighed more than chow fed obesity prone rats and all obesity prone rats weighed
significantly more than obesity resistant rats (Duca and Swartz, 4). The evidence of the change
in weight of rats is convincing since it is inarguable. As long as the experiment was conducted
correctly, there is no bias in the study so the results are reliable.
Duca and Swartz write for their audience, the biology discourse community, using the
distinguishing conventions of this discourse community as well as the genre of scholarly article
which shapes the knowledge produced by the experiment to cater to this audience. Many of the
conventions of the biology discourse community overlap with those of other academic
disciplines such as the reference of past studies or widely accepted knowledge, use of abstracts,

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and use of illustrations. One of the more distinguishing conventions of the biology discourse
community is the extensive descriptions and explanations of the biological processes involved.
Duca and Swartz test the regulation of oral and intestinal chemosensing of various nutrients by
nutrient responsive receptors located on taste and gut epithelial cells (Duca and Swartz, 2). By
detailing all of the steps of the experiment and elaborating on the biological processes occurring,
participants in the discourse community are able to reconstruct the experiment and confirm or
deny the conclusions of Duca and Swartz, adding to the validity of the experiment. In terms of
the knowledge produced, the field of biology values observation and experimentation rather than
opinion.
On the other hand, Masheb and Grilo argue in their psychology article that certain
emotions induce binge eating among people with Binge Eating Disorder, conduct a survey, and
conclude from the subjective results of the survey that anxiety is the emotion most related to
binge eating. The premise of Grilo and Mashebs survey is that episodes of binge eating are
related to emotions. The authors conduct their own survey called the Emotional Overeating
Questionnaire (EOQ) which consists of six questions where the patient answers how many days
out of the past 28 they ate an excessive amount in response to the emotions anxiety, sadness,
loneliness, tiredness, anger, and happiness (Grilo and Masheb, 142). After interviewing 220
overweight treatment-seeking Binge Eating Disorder patients, Grilo and Masheb gather that the
patients thought anxiety promotes binge eating episodes (Grilo and Masheb, 142). However, this
survey design doesnt necessarily reap accurate results as subjects are expected to give a self
evaluation of how often they binge ate earlier that month and what emotions they believed
caused it. This survey design allows for bias in the evidence used to support the conclusions.

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The evidence used in Masheb and Grilos survey is quantitative but derived through the
subjective opinions of the patients in the study, making the studys conclusions less convincing.
The quantitative evidence referenced at the end of the survey represents the number of days out
of the past 28 the patients believed they ate an excessive amount in response in response to a
given emotion (Grilo and Masheb, 142). It is noted earlier that the subjects in the survey are
treatment-seeking so they might exaggerate about the number of days they binge ate in hopes
of receiving aid (Grilo and Masheb, 142). Equally as likely, the patients might under exaggerate
how often they binge ate because they are overly optimistic of their progress towards being
healthy. Lastly, asking anyone to recall the events of an entire month in detail is sure to cause
inaccuracies. Overall, the evidence used to support the conclusions of Grilo and Mashebs article
has a high probability of being biased, making their results less convincing.
Masheb and Grilos write using the conventions of the psychology discourse community
which, from the lack of jargon, makes their work understandable to all readers thus permitting
more people to evaluate the paper and identify its flaws. Psychology studies the human mind and
human behavior so as a human, any reader should be able to participate in this discourse
community to some extent. As a result, there is not much difficult jargon used in the psychology
discourse community. The lack of jargon allows for more readers but also for more criticism.
Masheb and Grilos article is easily understood by those outside of the psychology discourse
community but this does not work to their advantage because more people evaluate their work
and can see the flaws in the design of the survey.
Evaluating the persuasiveness of each of the articles, the results of the experiment
conducted by Frank and Swartz is more convincing than the survey conducted by Masheb and
Grilo. The structure of Frank and Swartz experiment involving the tendency of obesity prone

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rodents to prefer higher concentrations of sucrose than normal rats is very detailed and precise in
what is being measured. Its impossible that the weights of the rats could have been changed by
any other means than their own choices. Masheb and Grilos survey, despite being clear and easy
to understand, is more subjective as the participants give estimates of how often they binge ate in
the past in response to certain emotions. This risk of bias makes their results less reliable than the
results of an experiment of physiological responses. To make a stronger argument, Masheb and
Grilo would need to have subjects report exactly when they binge eat and in response to what
rather than evaluating themselves in retrospect. But even in doing so, Masheb and Grilo would
still be less persuasive since different people might have varying definitions for emotions like
anxiety and sadness. It would be difficult to categorize every situation as causing a single
emotion. Thus, biology is a better suited approach for learning more about the condition
hyperphagia.
In all, if I were to investigate hyperphagia further, I would pursue it from a biological
standpoint because the psychology approach is highly subjective while biology offers inarguable
evidence through experimentation. The psychological examination of hyperphagia involves
explaining the outside factors, like emotions, which impact the biological processes that lead to
hyperphagia. Biology is more direct in addressing the subject, looking at the biological processes
rather than the causes of such processes. Until more is known about the condition, it is important
to understand first the condition itself before looking at its causes. Moreover, looking at
hyperphagia from a psychological standpoint will always result in some extent of bias.

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Works Cited
Duca, Frank and Timothy Swartz. Effect of Diet on Preference and Intake of Sucrose in Obese
Prone and Resistant Rats. Public Library of Science ONE 9.10 (2014): 1-8. Web. 1
February 2016.
Search terms that you used to find this source: Biology, Hyperphagia
Article database where you found this source: EBSCOhost
A main contributing factor of obesity is the decreased feedback from the gut and an increase in
the ability to sense what one is eating. In the study this journal article is written about, mice are
observed to see how varying levels of sucrose intake affect whether or not they develop obesity.
It was found that regardless of how much sucrose was given to the mice, those which were
genetically prone to developing obesity consumed significantly more calories than those which
were not.
Grilo, Carlos and Robin Masheb. Emotional overeating and its associations with eating disorder
psychopathology among overweight patients with Binge eating disorder. International
Journal of Eating Disorders 39.2 (2006): 141-146. Web. 1 February 2016.
Search terms that you used to find this source: Hyperphagia, Philosophy
Article database where you found this source: EBSCOhost
Looking at overweight patients, specifically those with binge eating disorders, Masheb and Grilo
observe to what extent strong emotions lead to overeating. Along with this, other factors such as
depression and gender are examined as to how they impact emotional overeating. However, it
was found that the amount of emotional overeating depended only on psychological aspects like
eating disorders or depression rather than gender or how over or underweight a subject was.