1. Evaluating Health Claims Project Details
Work in groups of 3-5
Select a current health finding covered by a media outlet- Newspaper, popular magazine; TV news show.
Good sources: NY Times, Time magazine, 60 minutes

2. Project Details You will turn in the following:
One copy of the news report
One copy of the original research article (with all group members’ names written on the first page)
Your own individually written summary of the research article (2 – 3 typed pages)
One copy of your group’s presentation slides (as a handout for the instructor; with all group members’ names written on the first page)
An evaluation of your group members

3. Find a health article Find friends/classmates
Discuss what health topic(s) interest each of you
Find an article in a news media outlet that interests you
Find the journal article which the media outlet source is based on

4. Compare the media report with the original research article
Read both articles on your own
Take notes on the claims in the media article
What are they claiming
What did they do
Compare the version in the media with the original journal article
What did they did
What did they find?
Are the findings consistent with the claims in the media report?

5. Prepare a PPT Presentation
After all of you have read the article, get together as a group and discuss your article
Create a PowerPoint presentation together: While you can use bullet points do not copy the information in the article word- for-word
Practice going over your PowerPoint presentation together (you must take turns presenting the information to the class)
Make sure your presentation is no more than 10 – 15 minutes in length
Save your presentation as a PowerPoint file on a USB flash drive

6. Papers and Presentations
Please place the following information on the first slide of your presentation
Screen shot of the article you are presenting
All group members’ names
Both should contain the following info:
Brief summary of what was done, according to media source: introduction, hypothesis(es), methods, results, and conclusions; Type of study (i.e. case study, correlational, experimental
Comparison of media report with original article
Can you believe the claim in the media?

7. Grading (100 possible points)
One copy of both the peer-reviewed psychology journal article and the article from the news media, with all group members’ names written on the first page; (5 possible points)
Your own individually written paper/outline of the research article (2 – 3 typed pages) and evaluation of group members (35 possible points)
One copy of your group’s presentation slides (5 possible points)
Your group members’ evaluation of your contribution to the group project (10 possible points; -10 points if you do not turn in your evaluation of your group members)
Class presentation (35 possible points)
Attending class presentations (4 presentation days x 2.5 points per day = 10 possible points)

8. Sample Presentation

9. Names

10. Red Wine is Good for Your Health
Moderate red wine drinking has health benefits
“Red wine drinkers had better levels of HDL cholesterol, better sleep and lower cardiometabolic risk factors”

11. Article Summary (Time)
Hypothesis:
Moderate wine drinking with dinner affects metabolic syndrome and quality of life.
Methods:
224 people with well-controlled type-2 diabetes and low risk for alcohol abuse. Assigned to drink mineral water, white wine, or red wine
Also followed a Mediterranean diet without calorie restriction for 2 years
Questionnaires and blood tests at the beginning of the study, 6 months into the study, and at the two year end of the study

12. Article Summary (Time)
Results:
Improved HDL cholesterol levels, improved quality of sleep, better cholesterol ratio, and reduced symptoms of metabolic syndrome in red wine drinkers compared to mineral water.
White wine drinkers only experienced better sleep quality.

13. Article Summary (Time)
Conclusions:
“It seems to me that my patients who drink red wine in moderation tend to do better, and this really solid gold- standard kind of research confirms our intuitions about the beneficial effects of moderate alcohol intake” – Dr. O’Keefe, Chief of Preventative Cardiology
Type of Study:
Randomized Controlled Trial

14. Can We Believe It?
Non-blind study, the subjects knew which group they were in.
Time’s headline “Here’s What Happens When You Drink Red Wine Every Night” is misleading, subjects were T2DM.
Overall, the article parallels the peer reviewed article very well.

15. Summary (Annals of Internal Medicine)
Hypothesis: We hypothesized that initiating moderate wine consumption would improve cardiometabolic risk mainly because of the ethanol component. Therefore, we predicted similar effects of red and white wine. Because of genetic variability in alcohol metabolism, we further hypothesized that the effects of wine on the metabolic variables would vary by “ADH1B (rs )” genotype

16. Methods (Annals of Internal Medicine)
2 year randomized control trial on alcohol-abstaining adults with well controlled type 2 diabetes were assigned to drink 150mL of either mineral water, white wine, or red wine daily with dinner on a Mediterranean diet with no caloric restriction.
Patients were monitored for blood pressure, liver biomarkers, medication use, symptoms, and Quality of Life.

17. Results (Annals of Internal Medicine)
87% completed the trial to term, of the 13% that dropped out only the white wine demographic was affected.
Red wine significantly increased HDL, good cholesterol, apolipoprotein
Only slow ethanol metabolizers benefited from both wines on glycemic control.
For all groups there was no noticeable difference in blood pressure, adiposity, liver function, drug therapy, symptoms, or quality of life.
Except for quality of sleep.
Red wine further reduced the symptoms of metabolic syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions — increased blood pressure, a high blood sugar level, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels — that occur together, increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

18. Conclusion (Annals of Internal Medicine
Moderate wine intake, especially red, as part of a healthy diet, helps lower cardiometabolic risk among diabetics.
Ethanol plays an important role in glucose metabolism.
Red wine’s effects also involve nonalcoholic components.
Components like antioxidants

19. Sources http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2456121
diabetes/