Structural Analysis

Thesis Statement

This article‘s thesis statement is in the first paragraph of [Sec. #1]. It is the first half of the second sentence. It is the thesis statement because it states the goal of the two experiments mentioned in the following paragraph and sections. Also, the keyword cocoa and the health benefits it may bring to people is clearly stated. In addition, this sentence mentioned the fact that scientists are working to gain an answer.

Whether consuming cocoa, known to be packed with powerful antioxidants that protect our cells from damage, helps us age better, is a question scientists want to definitively answer. They are looking for answers in the blood of 600 individuals age 60 and older who participated in the largest trial ever to assess the impact of a cocoa supplement as well as a common multivitamin, on reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and other health outcomes, says Dr. Yanbin Dong, geneticist and cardiologist at the Georgia Prevention Institute at the Medical College of Georgia.

Essay Outline

• [Sec. #2] - Chocolate is not healthy food even though cocoa contains antioxidants.
  This section first explains that chocolate is popular partly because People think the consumption of chocolate is good for you. The last part of this section refutes this notion by clearly stating that flavanols are often destroyed when cocoa and chocolate are processed, and chocolate should not be viewed as a health food .
• [Sec. #3] - So far, there is no solid evidence that cocoa is good for human health.
  In the first paragraph, it is pointed out that there had not been large scale randomized controlled trials to prove that consuming cocoa is beneficial.The quote from Dr. Dong We are going to prove or dispute it, where he used the word “prove” instead of also supports this main idea.
• [Sec. #4] - Scientists well learn the effects of cocoa by testing participants’ biological age and inflammaging.
  The first sentence in this section Dong and his colleagues will be looking specifically at aging, including so called “inflammaging,” and epigenetic aging, both considered good indicators of our biological age. summarizes the main idea of the whole section. So does the last part in this section, where the hypothesis of the experiment is explained: cocoa supplementation reduces epigenetic aging and inflammaging . The middle part of the section focuses on explaining what biological age is and how scientists test it.
• [Sec. #5] - People often consume chocolate, food, and dietary supplements in hope of gaining antioxidants.
  The idea that people consume certain thing to stay healthy is indicated through phrases like A natural and good source of antioxidants , Good source of flavanols . The second last sentence in this section uses statistics from a serve to support this idea.

Coherence & Cohesion

[Sec. #2]

Coherence

• Para #1 - This section only has one paragraph, it is connected to the last paragraph in the first section by reiterating the keyword cocoa . The previous paragraph talked about how scientists aim to prove cocoa’s effect on human health. The beginning of this paragraph Cocoa products have become a “widely consumed food”… makes a smooth transition because it is still talking about the same idea but from a different angle, which is how the public think of cocoa.

Cohesion

• Para #1 - The second sentence “People think the consumption of chocolate is… in this paragraph uses the phrase chocolate to refer to cocoa products in the previous sentence Cocoa products have become… . This technique is called synonyms or similar wordings .

[Sec. #3]

Coherence

• Para #1 - This paragraph connects to the previous paragraph by repeating the keyword flavanols . Also, it talks about the main topic using this phrase the anti-inflammatory might of cocoa in the second sentence of this paragraph.
• Para #2 - This paragraph introduces a new idea in the first sentence saying that the effect of multivitamins is also unproved. The transition was not awkward because the idea that something’s positive health effect does not have strong scientific evidence is shared between cocoa and multivitamins.

Cohesion

• Para #1 - Because flavanols are the main reason cocoa has its anti-inflammatory might , the phrase anti-inflammatory might in the second sentence While there has been evidence in cell cultures… is a paraphrase of flavanols in the first sentence. The technique used is paraphrasing .
• Para #2 - In the last sentence “We are going to prove or dispute it,”… , the pronoun it refers to biological plausibility that both cocoa and multivitamins might have some health benefit mentioned in the previous sentence.

[Sec. #4]

Coherence

• Para #1 - The first sentence in this paragraph Dong and his colleagues will be looking specifically at aging… refers to the trial mentioned in the last sentence of the previous paragraph … the size and duration of the COSMOS Trial is enabling him to do both therefore, the reader's focus can easily shift from how cocoa’s benefit to human health is not strongly proved in the previous paragraph to the trial Dr. Dong is participating in and its details in this paragraph.
• Para #2 - The phrase pro- and anti-inflammatory factors in the first sentence links this paragraph back to the previous paragraph where the keyword inflammation also appeared frequently. Keywords such as biological age and DNA methylation that also appeared in the previous paragraph helps to make the transition smoother, too.
• Para #3 - The opening sentence Inflammaging can be objectively accessed by measures like blood level of C-reactive protein… connects back to the first sentence in the previous paragraph Dong will be analyzing levels of key pro- and anti-inflammatory factors at baseline… . These two sentences both talk about something related to inflammation and they both mentioned blood tests. The first sentence in the previous paragraph used the phrase in the blood of those taking the cocoa supplement while in this paragraph testing the blood-level for a certain protein is mentioned.

Cohesion

• Para #1 - The second sentence Rather than just looking at… in the first paragraph applies the technique repetition to connect this sentence and the previous sentence. The keyword repeated here is biological age .
• Para #2 - In the second paragraph of section 4, the second sentence He’ll also be doing sophisticated, extensive… uses the linker also to attach additional information to the previous sentence inflammaging can be objectively assessed by… .

[Sec. #5]

Coherence

• Para #1 - The opening sentence contains the keyword chocolate , health benefits , and antioxidants . These are all keywords strongly related to the topic of the article, therefore creating a strong connection between this paragraph and other paragraphs.

Cohesion

• Para #1 - The second sentence in this paragraph eating chocolate has been reported to… has the phrase chocolate , which also appears in the previous sentence particularly dark chocolate is…. The technique used here is repetition .

Take-home Message

In the last paragraph of this article, the author talked about how dark chocolate, food, and other beverages are considered good source of flavanols . And are said to provide other beneficial nutrition as well. The author also used a survey to indicate that many adults take dietary supplement, and Multivitamins are a favorite supplement. Combine the mention that cocoa and Multivitamins are both popular because they are viewed as “good for health” and the fact that this whole article is talking about how there is no strong evidence supporting the health benefit of cocoa and multivitamin, the author urges readers to be more cautious when eating something believing it benefits our health .

Particularly dark chocolate is regularly touted for its health benefits as a natural and good source of antioxidants as well as iron, copper and other things good for your heart and health. Eating chocolate has been reported to lower cholesterol, blood pressure, cognitive decline and boost the immune response to invaders like the coronavirus, Dong says. Food and beverage items like grapes and red wine, tomatoes, onions, berries and peaches also are considered good sources of flavanols. Surveys indicate the majority of American adults use a dietary supplement, with female use higher than male use and overall usage increasing with age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Multivitamins are a favorite supplement.