Nkemjika Nwosu

4/1/16
English 1102
Obesity Epidemic Comparison

Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic that is plauging today's

childrens at an alarming rate. The scholarly, peer-reviewed research article
called, 'Time Trends in Fast Food Consumption and Its Association with
Obesity among Children in China' by Hong Xue, Yang Wu, Xiaoyu Wang , and
Youfa Wang, is far more superior in research content as opposed to the nonscholarly article, 'Parents' Denial fuels childhood obesity epidemic', from the
New York Times.
The Authors of the scholarly, peer-reviewed research article, 'Time
Trends in Fast Food Consumption and Its Association with Obesity among
Children in China' are very well educated in their fields and also on the
problematic topic: Obesity. Hong Xue and Youfa Wang, are active members
in the systems-oriented Global Childhood Obesity Intervention Program and
the department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health at the University
of Buffalo, and State University of New York. Authors Yang Yu and Youfa Wang
are members in the Department of Health: Behavior and Society at
Bloomberg School of Public Heatlth and also John Hopkins University. Author
Xiaoyu Wang is a member in the Department of Health Policy and
Management at Bloomberg School of Public health- Johns Hopskins University.
These credentials are more than enough proof that the authors are well
educated on the matter and and also gives researchers a high level of trust in
the material the authors have provided in their research.
The Author of the non-scholarly peer-reviewed article, 'Parents' Denial
fuels Childhood obesity Epidemic' is also well educated. Jan Hoffman is a
writer and also a reporter for the New York Times. She was once a columist
for Science Times and a legal affairs reporter for Metro. She is also a high
ranking contributor to 'Portraits of Grief', which are profiles of the victims of
9/11 that were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize ( awarded for high
achievement in online Journalism, literature, newspapers, and musical
composition). In Addition, Jan Hoffman graduated from Cornell University and
has a masters degree in law. Although Jan Hoffman has prestegious
credentials, that does not necessarily conclude that her pieces of writing are
credible and the best choice for an academic research paper.
The Scholarly, peer-reviewed journal article proves to be far more

superior in content than the non-scholarly, non-peer-reviewed article for

numorously obvious reasons. The scholarly, peer-reviewed article, 'Time
Trends in Fast Food Consumption and Its Association with Obesity among
Children in China' is the conclusive research of four individuals. The
researchers studied and collected statisical data from nine main providences
in China to the tiniest margin. In addition to their study, the researchers
included a map and some graphs and also used cross-sectional and
longitudinal analyses using data collected by the Chinese Health and
Nutrition Survey(CHNS). In this study the researchers made sure to collect a
plethora of statistically accurate data such as urbanicity, ethnicity, family
income, physical activity, and other dietary consumptions. By collecting this
much data, the researchers will have a much better understand the growing
epidemic of childhood obesity. A quote from the article states, "FFC (reported
having consumed Western fast food in the past three months) has
increasedbetween 2004 and 2009, from 18.5% to 23.9% in those aged 618,
and increased more rapidlyamong those aged 1317, from 17.9% to 26.3%".
This information goes to prove that the authors did their research in
connecting accurate data with sufficient backing of where they collected the
information from.
The non-scholarly article, 'Parents' Denial fuels Childhood obesity
Epidemic' proves to be heavily insufficent compared to the scholarly, peerreviewed article. From the Start, the author does not include an introduction
or any clear indication showing the path the article will be geared towards.
The author then gives a few quotes of a parent complaining about making a
healthier lifestyle change. By doing this, the author indirectly gives a small
glympse into one of the many problems of why childhood obesity is a growing
problem. The author, Jan Hoffman then gives unbacked statistics on the
matter such as, "In a recent study in Childhood Obesity, more than threequarters of parents of obese daughters described their children as "about the
right weight" ". This statement may be correct, but despite this, the author
does not cite where she collected that information from.
The comparision between the two articles goes to show that scholarly,
peer-reviewed journal articles have far greater credibility than a non-scholarly
peer-reviewed article. The scholarly article had four authors with equally
divided input compared to the non-scholarly article which only had one
author. This in itself is important because each author came from places that
heavily specializes in the topic at hand. The single author in the non-scholarly
article doesnt hold the same credentials about knowledge on the topic. The
non-scholarly article had numerous difficencies compared to the scholarly
one such as lack of backed statistics, pictures, graphs, and just overall
abundance of data.