Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Medium

PT116 S4 P4 Q27 Explanation

Wine Effects

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

TopicsInferenceScience

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Passage

Most scientists who study the physiological effects of alcoholic beverages have assumed that wine, like beer or distilled spirits, is a drink whose only active ingredient is alcohol. Because of this assumption, these scientists have rarely investigated the effects of wine as distinct from other forms of alcoholic beverages. Nevertheless, unlike other spirits but also study only the excessive or abusive intake of these beverages—have obscured.

Recently, a small group of researchers has questioned this assumption and investigated the effects of moderate wine consumption. While alcohol has been shown conclusively to have negative physiological effects—for example, alcohol strongly affects the body’s processing of lipids (fats and other substances including cholesterol), causing dangerous increases in the levels of these identical results whether the wine was white or red. What could explain such apparently healthful effects?

For one thing, the studies show increased activity of a natural clot-breaking compound used by doctors to restore blood flow through blocked vessels in victims of heart disease. In addition, the studies of wine drinkers indicate increased levels of certain compounds that may help to prevent damage from high lipid levels. And the concentration of certain natural compounds found in grapes and not present in other alcoholic beverages.

What this question is testing

Inference

Your task

Find what must be true based on what the passage or stimulus states.

Common trap

Answers that are plausible or likely but not actually guaranteed by the text.

Winning move

Keep only the choice the statements fully support — eliminate anything that requires an extra assumption.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
27.

The author suggests each of the following in the

Answer choices

  1. Supported3% picked this

    Greater platelet adhesiveness increases the risk of premature

    In the middle of the final paragraph, the sentence that begins "We now know that ..." tells us that platelet adhesiveness is linked to the development of premature heart disease.

  2. Supported7% picked this

    The body’s ability to process lipids is compromised by the presence of alcohol

    Near the beginning of the 2nd paragraph, the sentence beginning "While alcohol has been shown ..." tells us that alcohol strongly affects the body's processing of lipids, causing upticks in lipid levels in the bloodstream. That sentence doesn't explicitly mention alcohol in the bloodstream, but common sense allows us to add that, as well as the following sentence in which we talk about alcohol being absorbed into the bloodstream at different rates.

  3. Supported16% picked this

    Doctors have access to a natural compound that breaks down

    The first sentence of the last paragraph speaks of "a natural clot-breaking compound used by doctors".

  4. Correct73% picked this

    High lipid levels are dangerous because they lead to increased endothelial cell reactivity

    Why this is right

    High lipid levels, increased endothelial cell reactivity, and platelet adhesiveness are all mentioned in the middle of the final paragraph, but the passage doesn't say that the 1st thing causes the 2nd and 3rd. Instead, the passage says that there is a link between lipid processing and premature heart disease, but we've also found several additional important contributing factors. The 2nd and 3rd things are other things that contribute to heart disease. If we said, "Jan's score definitely improved from tutoring, however we found several additional important contributing factors: breaking up her studying into smaller increments and quizzing herself on recently learned content are each linked to score improvement", we're not saying that "tutoring was successful because it led to studying in smaller bursts and more self-quizzing". We're just saying each of these three things helped in its own way.

    Skill tested: Inference · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

  5. Supported2% picked this

    Moderate wine consumption appears to decrease the thickness of the interior walls

    Here we have to put together a couple sentences: the end of the 2nd paragraph says that it was found in several European countries that "as moderate wine consumption increased, premature heart disease decreased", and then in the middle of the last paragraph there's a sentence saying "Studies show that wine ... decreases the thickness of the innermost walls of blood vessels". Because the answer is phrased as "appears" to decrease, it's a very soft, supportable claim.

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