Researcher: Hard water contains more

Answer choices

1. A

   No Impact8% picked this

   Magnesium deficiency is not uncommon, even in relatively prosperous countries with an otherwise

   Whether Mg deficiency is common or rare doesn't seem to really have any impact. We are only concerned with Mg deficiency, in those who have it, increases your risk of heart disease / stroke / hypertension. This answer doesn't help us assess that question at all.

   8%
2. B

   Strengthens, if anything2% picked this

   Magnesium is needed to prevent sodium from increasing

   Our easiest reaction should just be "who cares what Mg is needed for", get out of here, (B). If we thought harder, and pulled in outside knowledge that LSAT wouldn't require of us, this seems to add plausibility to the idea that lower Mg could lead to those three conditions. The less Mg you have, the less you can prevent sodium from increasing your blood pressure, so the higher blood pressure you'll have. And higher blood pressure could increase your risk of at least some of those three conditions.

   2%
3. C

   Strengthens9% picked this

   As people age, their ability to metabolize

   This is a confusing answer, because a lot of us see it as that 3rd Factor Alternate Explanation. "The real reason that lower Mg and these three conditions are correlated is because both things are more common among older people. Old age is causing the low Mg in the blood, and old age is causing the higher rate of heart disease / stroke / hypertension." That would totally work as an Alternate Explanation. But this answer isn't saying that older people have lower Mg in their blood. It's actually saying they have higher Mg in their blood. When you metabolize something, you break it down and excrete waste products. The fact that older people can't break down the magnesium means that more of it would build up in their blood. So, since this answer is actually ruling out the possibility that "old age is causing the lower Mg and higher rate of these conditions", it mildly strengthens the argument by ruling out an alternate explanation.

   9%
4. D

   Weak Impact14% picked this

   The ingestion of magnesium supplements inhibits the effectiveness of many medicines used to treat high blood

   This is a worse version of (E). It almost lets us build an alternate explanation for why the people with these conditions have lower Mg. "If you have one of these conditions, then you know that taking Mg supplements (which would give you higher Mg) would inhibit the effectiveness of your meds. So if you have heart disease, you will then avoid taking Mg supplements." In a sense, "Having one of these conditions" is leading to "not having higher Mg (from supplements". That's close, but (E) is giving us "Having one of these conditions" is leading to "having lower Mg". This answer would only make us think that people with these conditions would not have high Mg. They could still have normal Mg. (E) allows us to explain why they have lower Mg.

   14%
5. E

   Correct67% picked this

   Compounds commonly used to treat hypertension and heart disease diminish the body’s capacity to absorb

   Why this is right

   This provides the Reverse Cause Alternate Explanation. There was a correlation between low Mg and higher risk of these conditions. The author assumed that, "first came the low Mg, and that paved the way for then developing these conditions". This answer is allowing us to argue an alternate explanation: "first came these conditions. Then people started taking medicines to treat these conditions, and those medicines had the effect of lowering the Mg of the the people taking them." By analogy, suppose we heard the argument, "People with glaucoma tend to have higher than average THC in their blood. So be careful, potheads, if you keep hittin' that reefer, you'll increase your risk of glaucoma." This answer choice is making this objection: "Wait a sec. The glaucoma came first. And their doctor prescribed medicinal marijuana. That's why the glaucoma patients have higher THC in their blood."

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

   67%