Example Of Research Article Review Research Paper

Evaluate the title

The study is entitled "Effects of Soft Drink Consumption on Nutrition and Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis". The title can be considered concise and clear because it captures the whole idea of the study. The title suggests that the study was to provide the association of soft drink consumption on nutrition and health of an individual with a thorough analysis of a collection of studies and surveys, which is exactly the whole point of the study. The title is very general, however, it seems to be necessary because the study covers a wide area. Similarly, the title included the general methodology, and again, it seems necessary because the authors included various thorough analyses of studies, all of which were categorized accordingly. The studies that were included by the authors had various scopes and ranges, thus, Vartanian, Schwartz and Brownell (2007) categorized the studies according to methodology details such as study design, sample characteristics and operational definitions of variables. Needless to say, the title states the whole purpose of the study and how the authors proceeded to achieve the goals of the study.

Abstract of the Study

The abstract is intriguing because, in the first place, the purpose of the study is very intriguing. However, the abstract is very well written, providing a glimpse of the study. The abstract was written in a concise manner. The abstract provides a general idea of the methodology and the results of the study. Indeed, the abstract was written clearly stating the purpose of the study. The general idea of the methodology was included in the abstract of the paper. The abstract have stated additional information about how the authors proceeded with the analyses. Of course, different studies have different scopes, so upon reading the abstract, the reader may question how the meta-analysis of 88 studies was conducted. Although the abstract should be concise and general, the paper was successful in including some specific details, such as the meta-analysis information. However, the abstract failed to declare how the authors screened and gathered the studies.
The abstract of the paper declared the general points of the results. These results seem to be relevant and intriguing. Finally, the abstract of the paper ended with a recommendation to reduce soft drink consumption.

Introduction

The general idea of the study is to examine the effects of soft drink consumption particularly on an individual's nutrition and health. The significance of the study is to provide information about the connection between soft drink and energy intake. In addition, the study aimed to state whether consistent soft drink consumption may decrease nutrient intake. Moreover, the authors aimed to provide the association of soft drink consumption to the prevalence of several diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Lastly, the study addresses whether the marketing practices of soft drinks could lead to commercial exploitation of youths.
Upon reading the introduction of the paper, the readers would not feel overwhelmed by technical terms because the introduction was very understandable. The authors provided the idea of the problem, which is the controversy regarding the association of soft drinks to nutritional and health problems. The theory is that there are various issues stating that soft drink consumption is a major factor to obesity, diabetes and other health problems. The authors also provided the significance of the study, and was written in a concise manner. Moreover, the introduction of the paper included the two sides regarding the soft drink consumption issue. The authors declared that there's an increasing awareness over the outcomes of soft drink consumption, most of which are associated with nutritional and health problems. On the other hand, the advocates of soft drink consumption defends soft drinks by declaring that: (1) the studies stating that soft drinks have more negative health outcomes than positive ones are flawed and insufficient, (2) soft drinks help in dehydrating, (3) selling of soft drinks provide funding especially in schools, (4) physical activity is a better factor to obesity than food intake, and (5) there are various causes of obesity and foods have both positive and negative outcomes.
Finally, the introduction included no details regarding the difference of the study to other previous studies of the same purpose. The reason could be that the paper is a meta-analysis, which means that it would analyze various studies thoroughly.

Literature Review

Since the study design is to evaluate, analyze and examine various studies under similar and related cases, the literature review of this study includes a total number of 88 studies that were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis. Thus, the studies that were reviewed by the authors are deemed relevant because the whole point of the study depends on the analyses. Moreover, the reviews became significant in the structure of the study design. Since the studies that were reviewed by the authors had different characteristics, the authors had to develop a systematic review according to their various study design (cross-cross sectional, experimental, longitudinal), sample characteristics (male versus female, old versus young, etc.), and their independent and dependent variables. Therefore, the reviews were relevant to this study.
The introduction of the paper included few literature reviews. However, the paper included one of the first studies to relate soft drink consumption to health. Moreover, the introduction of the paper included a piece of statistics about the production of soft drinks. Specifically, the paper stated that the production in the year 2000 increased dramatically compared to the production in 1942.

Objectives of the Study

The study aimed to investigate the effects of soft drink consumption to health and nutrition, however, since the knowledge is very general and wide, the study addresses specific issues. There are four primary objectives, and they are: (1) to identify whether soft drink consumption would lead to energy over-consumption, (2) to investigate the relationship of soft drink consumption to nutrient deficiency, (3) to address the association of soft drink consumption to several health problems such as obesity and diabetes, and (4) to investigate if marketing practices of soft drinks result to exploitation of children commercially.
The introduction of the paper stated these four primary objectives. There is no clear hypothesis in the introduction of the paper, however, the purpose of the study is to address the effects of soft drink consumption.
There is no evident ethical issues that were violated by the authors. Most ethical issues are from experimental activities, and since the study was a systematic review and meta-analysis, the only ethical concern is whether the authors of the studies were notified before subjecting to the systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methodology

The study design was a systematic review and meta-analysis, which means that the study had to gather various researches from the past related to soft drink consumption. The studies gathered had to be reviewed and analyzed thoroughly.
The studies to be included were screened by the authors. The studies were from MEDLINE and PsycINFO, and the computer search were done with key terms (1) soft drink, (2) soda and (3) sweetened articles. The articles were categorized primarily into four according to the association of soft drink to a certain outcome: (1) energy intake, (2) body weight, (3) milk intake, and (4) calcium intake. There were also two secondary outcomes: (1) nutrition and (2) health. With regards to the ethical issue, the authors contacted the contributors of the articles before proceeding with the review and analysis.
Note that the assessment of degree of heterogeneity of effect sizes were conducted using the significance of the Q statistic. Also, it is important to note that the research methods were seen by the authors to have different levels of power. The cross-sectional studies were viewed as the weakest because of its incapability to determine causality. Longitudinal studies were stronger but experimental studies were the strongest.
Then, the authors further assessed the variability of effect sizes by evaluating other potential variables such as (1) population or sample studied, (2) gender of participants, (3) the beverage type, (4) the degree of adjustment for covariates, (5) assessment method, and (6) industry funding. The authors also provided their definition of "industry funded" and "non-industry funded".
The Comprehensive Meta-Analysis version x2 was the definitive process for calculation of average effect sizes. Overall, the study well designed and the paper was thoroughly detailed.

Summary of Results

The results were given according to the association of soft drink consumption per particular outcome. The results were given before the interpretation of the results. The interpretation of the results were very detailed and written such that the readers would understand what the results were. Furthermore, the results part of the paper was filled with tables that help interpret the results. In addition, all the tables were properly labeled.
An example of a table in the results part of the paper is given below. The table labeled TABLE 1 includes all the calculated data, all of which are under their corresponding category. The vertical categories correspond to the sample characteristics of the study while the horizontal categories correspond to the study design.

Discussion and Conclusion

There are a number of conclusions included in the paper. The first conclusion declares that intake of soft drinks and beverages with added sugars increase the risk of gaining body weight and energy intake in the US. Most of cross-sectional studies state that increased soft drink consumption increases energy intake. Moreover, increased soft drink consumption was found to result to an increase in hunger and a decrease in satiety. This suggests that people are more tolerant to high level of sweetness compared to other foods.

Another set of findings suggest that there is a positive yet small connection between soft drink consumption and weight gain.

Indeed, soft drink consumption results to weight gain, however, the findings suggest that soft drink consumption is a small factor. Similarly, soft drink consumption is related to lower consumption of calcium and milk, but the effect is small. In all study designs, soft drink consumption lowers intake of fruit, dietary fiber and macronutrients while increases carbohydrate intake.

References

The reference list includes a total of 104 references, all of which are primary sources. For consideration, not all were conducted within 5 to 7 years ago. With the number of sources, all of which are peer-reviewed journals, it can be concluded that the paper provided compelling evidences.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that using a systematic review and meta-analysis, the effects of soft drink consumption on health and nutrition can be inferred. Moreover, the study offered an effective study design that could be used to a number of studies with generally wide scope. Furthermore, the purpose of the study was fulfilled, and so, it can be concluded that soft drink consumption increases the risk of obesity and diabetes, and lowers nutrient intake while increases energy intake.
Application
As an application, it can be recommended that soft drink consumption should be decreased, if not, banned by government and municipal authorities. As an individual, lowering soft drink consumption seems to be beneficial, which is why decreasing the intake of soft drinks will be considered. If not, physical activities shall compensate when soft drink consumption increases to reduce the risk of gaining excessive weight and diabetes. In the future, there must be an increase in the supporters of "anti-soft drink" campaigns. Finally, more Americans must be familiar with this study to increase awareness regarding soft drink consumption.
Reference
Vartanian, L.R., Schwartz, M.B., & Brownell, K.D. (2007). “Effects of Soft Drink Consumption on Nutrition and Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” American Journal of Public Health, 97(4): 667-65.