Logical Reasoning

PT110 · S2 · Q19 People should avoid taking the antacid

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People should avoid taking the antacid calcium carbonate in doses larger than half a gram, for despite its capacity to neutralize stomach acids, calcium carbonate can increase the calcium level in the blood and thus impair kidney function.

Information

causal (capacity to neutralize, can increase/stimulate)

CC >> neutralize stomach acids CC >> increase calcium >> impair kidneys CC >> more gastrin >> more acid secretion

recommendation

Don't take more than 1/2 gram of CC.

Evaluate

We know that the #1 focus of Most Supported questions is cause/effect relationships.

We had a couple causal chains here as well as that initial causal claim about neutralizing stomach acids.

In addition to the obvious overlap where all four claims are about calcium carbonate, we also have two other overlaps:

- multiple claims mention "half a gram" of CC - multiple claims mention "stomach acids"

If we combine the idea that 1/2 a gram stimulates gastrin and acid secretion with the claim that we shouldn't take more than 1/2 a gram, we could probably derive some takeaway like,

If we combine the idea that CC can neutralize stomach acids with the claim that 1/2 a gram of it can stimulate stomach acid secretion, we'd get some weird idea like

Goal

Look for the most provable claim. It will likely reward us for noticing the cause/effect relationships given.

19.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?

  1. Cessation of gastrin production is

    Unsupported Comparison

    This is getting at the two causal claims involving stomach acids. We heard that CC can neutralize stomach acids, but in large doses can also trigger them. Since the paragraph is suggesting that we don't take CC, does that imply that it's better to avoid stimulating gastrin (and thus stomach acids) than it is to try to neutralize the existing stomach acid? No, not necessarily. Perhaps a low dose of CC is the best (like 1/4 a gram), maybe that neutralizes what's there without stimulating the secretion of more. Furthermore, the recommendation to avoid CC could be based largely on the fact that it can impair kidney function, rather than on its capacity to stimulate gastrin.

    2% picked this

  2. People who avoid taking more

    Unsupported Comparison

    The passage doesn't talk about at what dosage calcium carbonate starts to trigger impaired kidney function. So we wouldn't really be able to relate kidney damage to the 1/2 gram dosage. We also know nothing about the average risk of impaired kidney function. It might be that 99% of people don't take any calcium carbonate, so the average risk of impaired kidney function is quite low. Thus, avoiding 1/2 a gram of CC might just make you have normal risk of impaired kidneys, not better than average odds. A better version of this answer would sound like, "All other things being equal, a person who avoids taking more than 1/2 a gram of CC is less likely to suffer impaired kidney function than if they were to take more than 1/2 a gram of CC".

    11% picked this

  3. Doses of calcium carbonate smaller

    Unsupported Comparison

    This sounds pretty reasonable, because we might be thinking there's a sweet spot (like 1/4 gram of CC) where you get to neutralize stomach acids but you avoid stimulating acid secretion. But we don't know at what dosage the neutralizing effects kick in. They might not really kick in until 3/4 gram or more. We just know that CC has the capacity to neutralize stomach acids, but we don't know what dose is required for it to start having that effect. We also don't know how to compare the acid-neutralizing effects to the acid-stimulating effects. It's not clear whether any dose of CC creates a net reduction or net increase in stomach acids.

    16% picked this

  4. Correct

    Half a gram of calcium

    Why this is right

    This is our most provable claim. Technically, we don't know whether 1/2 a gram of CC neutralizes your stomach acids. We know that CC has the capacity to neutralize stomach acids, but we don't know if you need to hit a certain dose to experience that effect. So this answer isn't bulletproof, but correct answers on Most Supported don't need to be. It's our most provable. We know that CC has the capacity to neutralize stomach acids and that 1/2 a gram of it can stimulate the secretion of stomach acids, so we have a lot of support for this. And the claim is worded very weakly.

    Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    71% picked this

  5. Impaired kidney function may increase

    Reversal

    We were told that increased calcium in the blood can lead to impaired kidney function, not this causally-reversed relationship.

    1% picked this

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