Answer questions

Purpose: In this activity, you will apply concepts discussed to distinguish genuine science from pseudoscience.

Pseudoscience has to do with claims that are masked in the language of science but are not supported by evidence obtained using hypothesis-driven, controlled experiments.

Please reread the class lecture material and any relevant assigned reading relating to the scientific method, as well as to pseudoscience and how to detect it, and then complete the questions below.

1. (5 pts) Advertisements for Green Tea Fat Burner claim that taking green tea supplements will help people lose body fat. Design a scientific study to test if this is true. Include basic details such as hypothesis, study participants and how they will be grouped, length of the study, what they will do, and outcomes you will measure to determine whether your hypothesis was correct.

2. (5 pts) Go to the Internet. Find a site that promotes a health product (ex. a dietary supplement or functional food) that you think may be based on pseudoscience.

Write the names of the product and web address (include a live link) here:

________________________________________________________

3. (5 pts) What are the features of the ad for this product that make you think the claim(s) made is/are based on pseudoscience?

4. (5) Find a research study or studies that relate to the claims made for this product. Does the research support the claims made about the product? Who did the studies?

5. (5 pts) Explain how you decide whether something you read on the web is true or false. Do you apply the same criteria to something you see on TV or articles you read in the newspaper or in a magazine?

Here are some ideas for products as examples for questions 2-5 on the assignment:

Airborne®

Activia

Raspberry ketones

Green coffee bean extract

The Blood Type Diet (Eat Right 4 Your Type)

LeptiBurn® 2.0

Chitosan

Garcinia Cambogia

Hydroxycut

QuadraLean 

The Flex Belt

NLA for Her NLA Advanced Fat Burning Stack - a good example of the kind of site that will work well:http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/nla-for-her/her-live-lean-stack.html (Links to an external site.) 

GNC Total Lean™ Lean Shake™ - Vanilla Bean (or any weight loss shake)

 Some of the above are available as supplements – like Chitosan or Garcinia Cambogia, and you can look for studies on those ingredients. Others, like Hydroxycut, QuadraLean, and LeptiBurn® 2.0 contain ingredients that you can search on Google Scholar (can also try using regular Google search for your product to see reviews and any negative or other interesting information out there is about the product).

 There are many, many more products that will work well for this assignment. You can use any of the above or find your own product to analyze. It’s not hard to find them!

Grading Rubric

1. Description of scientific way to test if green tea supplements burn body fat

Excellent	Good	Adequate	Fair	Poor
5	4	3	2	0-1

2. Internet sites for bogus pseudoscience.

Excellent	Good	Adequate	Fair	Poor
5	4	3	2	0-1

3. Evaluation of product claims for pseudoscience.

Excellent	Good	Adequate	Fair	Poor
5	4	3	2	0-1

4. Evaluation of research related to claims for the product.

Excellent	Good	Adequate	Fair	Poor
5	4	3	2	0-1

5. Explanation of how you decide if claims are true or false.

Excellent	Good	Adequate	Fair	Poor
5	4	3	2	0-1

NuFS 139: Distinguishing between science and pseudoscience Page 1 of 3