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Harold Verity Dr. Guenzel ENC 1102 21 March 2014

Rhetorical Analysis: Is Inactivity the Cause of Fatness or Fatness the Cause of Inactivity? Obesity is a trending topic that continues to spread ablaze through a conversation currently being had among millions of people around the world. Among many of the pieces to the current global dialogue pertaining to obesity is an article which begs the question of what exactly causes obesity. This article Is inactivity the cause of fatness or fatness the cause of inactivity? was written by Kiran Rahelu, published in the United Kingdom, and contained research conducted from Plymouth, England. Rahelu is a graduate of Reading University, and is also a nutritionist who writes for publications sponsored by a consumer goods company Johnson & Johnson. J&J is a very large corporation which produces many different products but specializes in the production of tools used for medical application.

Rahelu begins her article by expressing to her audience the importance of talking about obesity and its causes as it is spreading all over the world amongst children as well as adults at an alarming rate. She then introduces The Early Bird Study, which was a long term study which measured the amount of physical activity and body fat percentage of children annually from age 7 to 10. After discussing some of the background information pertaining to The Early Bird Study, Rahelu then mentions the results of the study which were that obesity and inactivity appeared to have a relationship that showed inactivity was less likely to cause obesity than obesity was likely to cause inactivity. In other words, the results of the study yielded that one

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could more successfully predict that obesity would lead to inactivity rather than predict that inactivity would lead to obesity. This analysis of Rahelus article shows that though there are some small parts of her argument which are not perfect and should be addressed. Overall, Rahelu integrates evidence credibly while reaming unbiased in her logic.

Being so involved with higher level education as well as being a nutritionist were probably key factors that contributed to her desire to explain the ineffectiveness of previous exercise intervention programs. Explaining the failure of these programs constitutes the purpose of her article; otherwise known as exigence. In her article, Rahelu states that her intention was to help people gain more of an understanding of obesity and how to prevent it. It is unknown whether or not Rahelu can personally relate to the topic of obesity, however in her article she claims to have no conflict of interests that would affect the articles credibility. Rahelus educational background did not only serve as part of her motivation for writing the piece, but also served as a positive constraint for her argument. As can be seen on The Reading Universitys homepage website, Reading University is ranked among the top one percent of all universities on the planet. This, along with her current profession as a nutritionist provides Rahelu the proper credibility to help her successfully make her argument. The intended audience is those who would find her interpretations of the studys results, or at least the studys results alone, useful in determining the direction of causation between obesity and inactivity. Another positive constraint that Rahelu uses to be advantageous to her argument is her choice of genre. Due to the nature of the article, its intended audience is quite specific and being an article published by J&J allows Rahelu to better reach those who she intends to reach with her text. This

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is because J&J is a health related organization and those who are interested in health are more likely to be reading articles published by J&J rather than those who arent interested in health.

The implicit assumptions used by the author to support her argument act as a negative constraint on the authors rhetorical situation. It is assumed that the methods used by the authors of the study were proper and would allow for accurate and reliable results. For instance, how did the conductors of the study measure the physical activity of each of the children? Were kids put though physical activities which included differing levels of intensity? If so, then the results may suggest some bias because there would be inconsistent results among the childrens final body mass indexes. Also, when looking at the question which was trying to be answered by the study Is fatness caused by inactivity or is inactivity caused by fatness?, it should be noted that here the author is assuming that either fatness or inactivity is a cause of the other. This assumption ignores the possibility that fatness may not necessarily be the cause of inactivity and inactivity may not necessarily be the cause of fatness. The research question that the author is trying to answer is limited in that it isn't allowing for some other factor to act as a cause for fatness and/or inactivity, such as a lack of sleep for example. This weakens her article in that it creates an uncertainty in how effective the study actually was.

I was also able to find one fallacy which may have strongly weakened the argument. When the author is going over how the study was conducted, the studys creators used the concept of temporality (that cause must precede outcome), as the author put it. Therefore, the conductors of the study used sequence to explain causation. The researchers made the assumption that there is not a common cause between obesity and physical activity, which may or may not be true, and therefore weakens the results of the study.

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The authors main claim is that the efficacy of physical activity in the reduction of body fat is questionable, based on the results from The Early Bird Study. The claim could be further qualified to reduce the possibility of overgeneralization. For example, Rahelu could have focused her main claim by applying it only towards children of the same age as the children used in the study, rather than stating that the efficacy of physical activity in the reduction of body fat is questionable with all people of all ages. However the author does specify that the claim is not to argue the benefits of physical activity on health, but rather just attempt to measure whether or not physical inactivity is the cause of obesity.

The main reason that the author uses to support the claim is that the results from The Early Bird Study showed so. The author states that the study found body fat percentage at age 7 years predicted a change in physical activity over the following 3 years; however, activity levels at age 7 years did not predict subsequent changes in body fat percentage over the same follow-up period. This trend was consistent from year to year and in both sexes. Its important to note that one assumption being made by this argument is that children and adults both have the same relationship between physical activity and fatness. Therefore the cause for fatness in children must be the cause for fatness in adults, and vice versa. This shows one area that the author could have further qualified the main claim.

The author does use a bit of authoritative appeal. The author uses the outcome of the study to present evidence which has been cited from the authors of the study, or people of notable positions. Using the outcome of the Early Bird Study to base an argument creates authoritative appeal for the author because those who founded the study are considered experts on obesity since they were granted the position to oversee such a study. The result of citing the

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evidence that was provided in the study gives the author more credibility when making a conclusion.

The author also uses pathos, playing on the fear of a nation which is growing rapidly in the rate of which obesity is occurring. For example, the author starts off her article by stating that the rate of childhood obesity is predicted to rise at an alarming rate within the next few decades. This plays on the fears of parents: that their children may become obese. Ultimately, it allows the author to better catch the attention of the audience and helps to advance the argument.

The evidence is mildly convincing. The author does state that obesity is a multifactorial matter and that more research is required in order to fully understand the direction of causation between obesity and inactivity. There is somewhat of an objection offered towards the end of the text which quotes another authoritative figure and states that there is no doubt that physical activity is beneficial to the human health, and that the evidence in this study doesnt deny that. The author organized the text quite well. It starts with an introduction, and then it speaks about the study and touches on the methods which were used on how it was conducted. Then it goes more into obesity and its effect on those who suffer from it. From that point, it forms a conclusion. There is no visual aid in the paper. The authors tone is almost as if the author is a member of the audience. As the paper transpires, the author does consider two different possible directions of cause and the author also seems to choose a side and develop an argument more so as the paper progresses. The article leaves the audience wondering that perhaps the cause of obesity is not just inactivity, or maybe it isnt due to inactivity at all. The process which the author used to present the evidence as well as the open mindedness of the author seemed to be

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the biggest contributing factors as to why the paper is so effective in engaging the audience as well as arguing the authors point.

Works Cited Rahelu, Kiran. "Is Inactivity The Cause Of Fatness Or Fatness The Cause Of Inactivity?." Nutrition Bulletin 35.4 (2010): 304-307. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. Rahelu, Kiran. "World's Largest Professional Network | LinkedIn." World's Largest Professional Network| LinkedIn. Linkedin, 1 Jan. 2009. Web. 21 Mar. 2014 "University of Reading." University of Reading Website. University of Reading, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.