Juice dieting has become a fairly popular, yet misunderstood trend in young people all across the country, especially in urban areas. It involves substituting all meals with a liquid meal of pressed fruits and vegetables. This diet is said to help cleanse the body as it eliminates toxins from the body. Seeing this topic on a poster interested me because I know that the diet, just like many other fads, instigates a subsequent false mentality that it is the sole decision necessary to lose weight. It simple: only drink juice and you will lose weight. Juice dieting is by no means a clear-cut method for weight loss; however, many people are not aware of that fact and therefore misinterpret its functionality.
The poster drew from a study the students conducted in which 133 college students were questioned about juice dieting and their opinions on its effectiveness. The results portrayed a mixed opinion, leaning slightly towards a belief that juice dieting was effective and trusted. However, the group’s analysis of the data was what sold the poster for me. They critiqued their own study, offering possible questions they could ask in response to the data they collected, and suggested that further research was necessary to acknowledge any adverse effects juice dieting might have on the body (juice cannot supply you with all the vitamins, nutrients, protein, etc. that you need). While the poster did not go into much depth on the “science” of juice dieting, it provided a good analysis of a new and potential solution for a topical issue.
I agree that this is an interesting and timely topic to research. Based on how you described the poster, however, it seems that they were focusing more on the psychology of the juice dieting craze, or more precisely the marketing schemes that attracts consumers and leads them into thinking that this juice diet is effective. I think the research would have been much more significant had they actually studied what you called the “science” of these juices and actually measured students’ opinions against actual measured effectiveness of the juices, or even provided some analysis of how the diet is supposed to work. But nevertheless, studies of consumers’ perception are pretty much always fascinating.
This seems to be what many advertising groups are doing right now. They perform experiments that allow them to promote their products. However, they do not tell the flaws of the experiment or how they are performed, unless we go in and find the data ourselves. What sets this poster apart from these companies would be the analysis that you mentioned. By analyzing the data and finding its flaws, researchers can find new ways to design their own accurate experiments. Although this poster does not go into the “science” behind all of the dieting, I believe its important to have solutions on problems that are prevalent in our society. And by putting this in a symposium, people who are in the appropriate fields can do something about this problem.
Good summary of the poster and nice comments from Miriam and Justin in response.