Danger of Too Much Calcium

          Over the past several decades, Swedish researchers have gathered research that suggests that although calcium is an important nutrient for bone health, older women who take large amounts may be at increased risk of heart disease and death. To conduct this study, researchers followed 61,433 women born between 1914 and 1948 for an average of 19 years, confirming causes of death with a Swedish government registry. After controlling for physical activity, education, smoking, alcohol and other dietary factors, they found that women who consumed 1,400 milligrams or more of calcium a day had more than double the risk of death from heart disease, compared with those with intakes between 600 and 1,000 milligrams.

The author of this text is New York-based writer, Nicholas Bakalar who specializes in medicine, health, wellness, animals, and science. This background makes Bakalar more than credible to report the findings of the researchers. The purpose of Bakalar’s article was to report Swedish research to readers in women in America who may not think of their calcium intake as a concern. Therefore, it is only logical that the audience of this article be adult women of America considering the research was targeting this sex and age group.

            Bakalar uses several rhetorical devices in order to create a logical appeal in his writing. Considering this was a research-based article, Bakalar used strong, concrete language, accompanied with scientific jargon, opposed to abstract language. This use of facts, statistics, and well-rounded data helped Bakalar appeal to the reader’s logical rather than their emotional side.

            Overall, I do believe the author achieved his purpose of reporting a concise summary of the Swedish research to the American audience. The language he employed provided the audience with an informational text in a straightforward manner, rather than an elusive one made using words that refer to ides, qualities, attitudes, and conditions that are not necessarily in numbers. Both the language and structure of the text helped the author write an effective text.