Being a Vegetarian causes cancer?
By: Dana Blackwell
Article Summary
The article that I found was “Hold Up: Can Being Vegetarian Really Put You at Higher Risk for Cancer?” by Amanda Woerner. It was published on Women’s Health Magazine’s website on March 31, 2016. In the article the author talks about a recent study published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution that links a vegetarian diet to an increased insistence of cancer. The study looked at a vegetarian population in Pune, India and a meat eating population in the U.S., and saw that the vegetarians had a higher incidence of a genetic mutation that is linked to cancer and heart disease The rest of the article has quotes from doctors and other nutrition specialists that go against the findings of this study, therefore proving the study misleading and unreliable.
Article Critique
I believe that my article is pretty reliable based on multiple findings throughout the article. Although the credentials of the author are not listed, Women’s Heath is a well-known magazine and is reliable, and I do not believe they would have someone on their staff that was not reliable. Women’s Health is more reliable than most magazines because they cite their sources unlike other magazines. If you read a People Magazine article they will say “a source said” but they will not give you the actual name of that source. Women’s Health is also award winning and would have probably been reviewed and checked for accuracy before being awarded these awards. Also, the way she writes makes her more reliable. She included the name of the journal that the study was found in and she included a link to the study for if you wanted more information. Having the link to the study shows that it is a real thing and not random information that the author made up. She also included quotes from multiple different doctors and nutrition specialists and lists all of their credentials. Stating their names and listing their credentials helps prove that they are real doctors and specialists that the author talked to. It also allows you the ability to look up the doctors and specialists themselves to see their reliability. The article is based on scientific evidence that the author found in the study and gathered from other medical professionals. The article is well written and has nothing that leads you to believe that the author does not know what she is talking about.