Strengths and weakness of scientific paper During this essay I am going to be examining the weakness and strengths of the

study conducted by Schaefer, Gleason and Dansinger (2009) which looked at the dietary fructose and glucose and the impact it has on lipid and glucose homeostasis.(Schaefer, Gleason, & Dansinger, 2009). Like most scientific papers this paper has an abstract, the abstract aims to give a general overview of what the study contains, therefore the abstract will have details on the methods used, results obtained and conclusions that have been derived from findings are also given in the abstract. The abstract written by Scheafer et al (2009) fails to clearly highlight the different sections of the study in the abstract thus making it hard to read and gather information from. Furthermore, another weakness that has been also noted from this study is that the actual scientific paper does not have a date on it therefore, it is very difficult to determine the usefulness of the paper as information may no longer be valid. (Schaefer et al., 2009) Lack of structure has also been noted throughout the paper as there are no subheadings indicating where the introduction, method and results end and start. Furthermore, the study does not introduce the topic, this is because there is no aims or objectives which help the reader understand what the study aims to achieve and how the objectives are going to be met. However, this study does introduce the importance of the study, which aims understand the impact of dietary fructose and glucose on lipid and glucose homeostasis. (Schaefer et al., 2009) Scheaefer et al (2009) state that the difference in the metabolism of fructose and glucose result in different metabolic effects as fructose does not overcome firstpass metabolism by the liver was glucose does, this has contributed to the increased levels of triglycerides after or during food, the study aims to determine the effect this may have on coronary heart disease. (Schaefer et al., 2009) This because having a greater understanding of the metabolic pathways may help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease or the progression of the disease in patients with coronary heart disease, obesity and high blood pressure. The use of subheadings and clear paragraphs in this articles main body and abstract would

have made the study more effective and thus it would have increased the likelihood of being cited and used for other potential studies which aim to look at the prevention management of obesity, coronary heart disease and parameters that may effect diabetes. (Schaefer et al., 2009) Also the study fails to highlight who the participants are and how the have been selected. The lack of clear information on the exclusion and inclusion criteria in the articles abstract and main body makes the reader wonder whether the participants were humans or if the study was conducted on rodents, which is discussed in the conclusion. In conclusion, this study lacks structure throughout the article and could have been presented better. In addition to this it fails to give any indication of who the participants are and how they have been selected. However, if the study had been presented better it could be potentially used as a basis for further studies to which aim to get better understanding on the impact fructose metabolism could have in patients with diabetes, obesity, hypertension or coronary heart disease.

Schaefer, E. J., Gleason, J. A., & Dansinger, M. L. (2009). Dietary fructose and glucose differentially affect lipid and glucose homeostasis. J Nutr, 139(6), 1257S-1262S. doi: 10.3945/jn.108.098186