Adrián Arias Marín A01451234

Critical Thinking-Exercise 1

“Bebidas azucaradas, para bajar la obesidad”. 

What are the arguments of the DOF article?

 The consumption of sugar contributes notoriously to excess energy intake and is an

important factor in the development of overweight and obesity in Mexico.
 High prevalence of overweight and obesity represents an enormous public health
issue in Mexico

Which consistencies or inconsistencies did you find in the document?

 They are consistent with the idea that excess of sugar contributes to high rates of
obesity in Mexico.

Which biases or errors did you find in the arguments (bad arguments, fallacies, omissions,
false inferences and deceptive statistics)?

They just say that sugar-added beverages contribute notoriously to the devolpment of obesity,
but they do not really back up that statement with reliable statistics or studies. They used
complex vocabulary and names to confuse the reader in order to making him or her think the
information is founded by reliable institutions or documents, when they are not really using
hard data or facts. They omit getting into more detailed information that can unjustify their
point of view.

Can conclusions be drawn from the arguments?

Any real conclusions can be drawn from the arguments because they are not actually backed up
with facts or statistics that can give credibility to the statement. There is not enough useful
information to draw an educated conclusion about the arguments presented in the article.

Is the person’s point of view derived from his or her research?

The author point of view is not derived from any research. No real research is mentioned during the
article, just institutions and legislations that do not really help defend the arguments given by the
author.
How are you ordering your own arguments (to avoid being unfocused)?

1. Comprehension
2. Analysis
3. Fact checking

Conclusion

In order to give arguments about the credibility of the article, I read the article several times to
look for consistency in the ideas, fallacies, omissions, bad arguments or deceptive statistics that
can influence my judgement.

After doing that, what I finally concluded is that this article do not give the necessary prove and
data to believe a tax to sugar-added beverages will reduce obesity in Mexico. I do not find this
article truly believable ,because it use complex language to confuse the reader into believing
that everything written there is true, also the constant affirmation with out properly backing up
the statement with research or reliable statistics, added to the constant omissions of
information that may collide with author’s point of view.