this is my Critical Reading project. it is about controversy about chocolate

1. CRITICAL READING
DWI PUJI SEPTARINI
100221400423

2. I care about this
topic because …
The controversy about the effect of
chocolate in our life? Is it good or
bad?
Reasons:
1. Most people like eat chocolate.
2. There are opinions that
chocolate give bad and good
impact for human health.
3. Just few researchers explore
about benefit chocolate in
health wise.
4. Benefit of chocolate in economic
side.

3. Author’s attitude
o The others are being
contra. They argue that
chocolate is dangerous
o Some of authors are being pro. They because :
agree that chocolate has some 1. Cacao is toxic and
benefits in our life. addictive, just to make
1. They argue that chocolate has good money.
effect in our body, such as it is good 2. Regular chocolate
for our heart and reduced the risk of consumption could
stroke. cause weaker bones
2. Chocolate is a good commodity to be and osteoporosis
developed.

4. Enjoy! Chocolate Is Good For
Your Heart
• Source : Meredith Melnick– TIME magazine (August, 29th 2011).
She is a reporter and producer for Healthland .
• Pro-side : To show the reader that researchers have analyzed
about benefits of chocolate for human’s body. Even though she
has positive attitude to the result of the studies, she is still
hesitant because the studies which the researchers do, do not
mention about why chocolate have positive effect for human’s
body. She agrees that chocolate has some benefits such as good
for our heart.
• My attitude : it is surprising that chocolate is good for human’s
heart. I think researchers have developed the research until they
get a valid result because when people especially people who
have heart illness know about this issue, they will consume
chocolate to get better. It has to be concerned.
Analysis

5. Mind Over Chocolate
• Source : Alana B. Elias Kornfeld (March, 26th 2009).
She was Senior Editor, Healthy Living for two years.
• Pro-side : she shows that there is a new invention which offers
the positive intention of chocolate. It is the product called
Intentional Chocolate which uses a special recording device to
capture the electromagnetic brain waves of meditating Tibetan
monks.
• My attitude : I am quite hesitant about that product because I
cannot imagine how can chocolate is infused with good vibes.
Analysis

6. Chocolate Is Bad for Your Bones!
• Source : Stefan Anitei – Softpedia(January, 28th 2008).
Stefan Anitei works as science editor.
• Cons-side : she shows that regular chocolate consumption could
cause weaker bones and osteoporosis.
“Cocoa and chocolate have been promoted as having a range of beneficial
cardiovascular properties. But the effect of chocolate intake on other organ
systems has not been studied. These findings could have important
implications for prevention of osteoporotic fracture,“
• My attitude : it is surprising readers that chocolate is bad for
bones, I think women have to concern about it because young women will
have babies and it is dangerous if women’s bones get weaker.
Analysis

7. Health benefits of
dark chocolate can be ‘deceptive’
• Source : Mohit Joshi-TopNews ( December, 21th 2007)
He led a global Sales and Marketing team.
• Cons-side : according to his background, he wants to show the
readers that there is connection between what manufactures do
and the health benefits of chocolate. Many manufacturers remove
flavanols from chocolate because of the bitter taste, therefore the
benefit of it has gone.
“Think twice before indulging into dark chocolate the next time, for
claims that the sweet is good for your health might have been
misleading, according to health experts.”
• My attitude : I am pro with his arguments because as I know, the
tastes of most of chocolate that I have ever eaten is sweet, not
bitter as the real cocoa, so I think manufactures have remove the
flavanols from their products.
Analysis

8. Raw Toxic Chocolate
• Source : Paul Nison– LivingFood.com
He is a chef and writer. He has written many books about
health and healing.
• Cons-side : his cons arguments about chocolate is so brave. He
tells clearly that chocolate is toxic and he tells about his
experiments with his friends to find out the effects of cacao.
“I chose to write about this topic because many raw food eaters
today are being misled and told that it is healthy. It is dangerous
and people need to know the truth. ”
• My attitude : it is amazing knowing someone so brave to tell his
argument. He has shown his studying with his friend. I think his
article is good enough.
Analysis

9. My Attitude:
Overall, I stand on cons opinion. As I know most people like
chocolate. For the health side, I am still hesitant to the result of
the invention of chocolate because I think researchers need to
do other researches to make the result valid because as they
said, “we all know chocolate makes us feel good, even if science
isn't 100% sure why yet. Keep trying guys” So i think they have
not been confident about the invention.
The chocolate companies should take care about the
compositions of their products, because that composition is the
main influenced to the benefit of chocolate.
Chocolate now is different with chocolate in the past.

10. Analysis of Articles
What are the facts you can get from the texts? What are the
perspectives/interpretations from the texts? What can the
writer’s purpose be?
 The facts: Researchers found that there are negative effects of
eating chocolate such as acne, tooth decay, addictive effects,
weight gain, and bad for human’s bones. Yet recently other
studies against the last researches which said that chocolate
have more good effects than bad effects for human’s health.
 The writer’s purpose can be good information for people who
like eat chocolate especially for chocoholic and also for the
businessmen who sell the chocolate product.

11. What arguments, illustrations, or metaphors used by the
writer to convince you?
 Both authors which pro and cons use the example and explain
the report of the researchers’ studies to persuade that now
chocolate also has some effects for human’s health, good and
bad.
 They also use figure of speech such as “The news keeps getting
sweeter: eating chocolate has been linked to lower blood
pressure, a reduced risk of heart disease and now, in a new
study, a lower risk of stroke in women.” this figure of speech is
used by pro people to convince that chocolate is God food.
Also there is a metaphor such as “… there are many toxic things
that people do everyday…”

12. What do you think about those arguments, illustrations and
metaphors? Are they weak or strong? Why?
 In the articles which are show the good effect, the authors’
arguments are weak, because it is mentioned that researchers are
still learning that chocolate consumption has linked with lower blood
pressure, lower levels of bad cholesterol and reduced risk of stroke
and heart attack and that observational cannot prove a direct effect
and why chocolate makes us feel better.
 Yet, the figure of speech which they use are quite strong. For pro
opinion, they use the metaphor in the beginning of article so the
readers will feel interest about the information. For cons opinion, the
metaphor is used in the end of article to convince the readers about
effect of chocolate.

13. Arguments which is weak:
“It’s not clear why, but some past studies have attributed
chocolate’s heart benefits to its antioxidant and anti-
inflammatory properties, which may help blood pressure and
improve insulin resistance.”
“We all know chocolate makes us feel good, even if science isn't
100% sure why yet. Keep trying guys”

14. Which text is the most and the
least credible? Why?
 The least credible: “Mind Over  The most credible: “Raw
Chocolate” by Alana B.Elias Toxic Chocolate” by Paul
Kornfeld because I still cannot Nison because this article
imagine that how can there is show the complete result
“intention” infused into the of the research which tell
chocolate. In addition, James
about the bad effect of
Fallon, a professor of psychiatry
and human behavior at the
chocolate and the
University of California at Irvine explanation of them.
School of Medicine, is skeptical
about this product. He said, "So I
take a rutabaga and put it close to
my head, and it somehow changes
the food and improves the mood of
the person who ate it?”

15. Ethical Component in the text
• Ethical Component
1. Ethical Standard: the right to freedom
- The people who cons to the opinion which says that
chocolate has more good effect think that actually the
big problem is, at that point so many people are already
addicted to it and can’t stop even if they wanted to. Very
similar to the addiction people have to cooked food.
They just can’t except that it’s not healthy for them so
they make excuses to keep consuming it.

16. • Virtue of honesty
I appreciate the pro people about what they
have found in researching the advantages of
eating chocolate even though they have not
been confident about the result. So the
people could consider more.

17. • Practical Component
There is a practical components inside the
story, that is, the story is very useful for the
readers and the manfactures.
As for myself, this story helps me to be aware
to all of food that I eat, not only chocolate but
also other food. I also have to manage how
much which is appropriate to be eaten.