A recent clinical study demonstrated a possible connection between coffee consum

Question

A recent clinical study demonstrated a possible connection between coffee consumption and heart health. The researchers performed a 6-week trial with 191 individuals, all of whom were heavy coffee drinkers (average of 5 cups/day) prior to the experiment, but none of whom were smokers. They divided the 191 participants into three groups: no coffee consumption, 1-3 cups/day, and 4 or more cups/day. They measured blood levels of cholesterol and homocysteine as indicators of heart health. Only the no-coffee group showed a significant drop in both indicators. Previous studies had demonstrated that decreases of the magnitude observed in the no-coffee group could cut the incidence of heart disease by 10-15%.

a) What is the problem/question being studied?

b) What is the hypothesis?

c) What is the experimental variable?

d) List the controls.

e) What is being measured to test the hypothesis?

Explanation / Answer

a) The purpose of the study is to determine whether coffee consumption affects heart health.

b) The hypothesis of the study is that there is a possble connection between coffee consumption and heart health.

c) The experimental variables are the differing cholesterol and homocysteine blood levels of the group (dependent variable) and each group with differing coffee consumption (independent variable).

d) The levels of cholesterol and homocysteine in blood of a person with healthy heart will be the negative control. The positive control will be the levels of cholesterol and homocysteine in blood of a person with heart disease.

e) The blood levels of cholesterol and homocysteine of each group is measured. Also the amount of coffee consumed by each group is also measured.

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