Logical Reasoning

PT156 · S2 · Q10 Medical researcher: Studies in North America

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Medical researcher: Studies in North America have shown that the incidence of heart disease in a population is closely related to the average fat consumption for individuals in that population.

Given that ...

Heart disease incidence is closely related to average fat consumption. and that The French consume as much fat as North Americans.

How can it be that ...

Heart disease occurs half as often among the French as among North Americans?

Goal

We're going to need some distinction between France and North America to explain why they're not comparable in terms of heart disease. Maybe the French do something good that North Americans don't do that lowers heart disease risk, or the North Americans do something bad that the French don't do that increases heart disease risk.

10.

Which one of the following, if true, would most help to resolve the apparent conflict noted by the medical researcher?

  1. The average level of fat

    Cheats Paradox

    This says French fat consumption has been falling for decades. But the stimulus tells us that currently French and North American fat consumption are equal. So if French levels fell to now equalize North American levels, that would mean fat consumption used to be even higher among the French. If anything, that should mean the French should now have more heart disease as the high-fat past catches up with them. This makes the puzzle worse, not better.

    2% picked this

  2. Other factors of diet besides

    No Impact

    This talks about an absence of causal factors. We need a causal factor, baby! We need a distinction between the French and North Americans that could cause two different rates of heart disease, even though fat consumption is similar.

    7% picked this

  3. Correct

    Heart disease takes years to

    Why this is right

    This is a weird distinction. It's essentially saying, "Just you wait, France -- you'll have proud North American levels of heart disease in just a little while". The reason heart disease is half as common in France is because they have historically been eating less fat than North Americans (which makes perfect sense, since we know fat is linked to heart disease). The mismatch between current fat intake and current heart disease levels is just because heart disease is a lagging indicator of fat intake; you don't see the damage that fat is doing until many years later.

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

    86% picked this

  4. Certain diseases other than heart

    No Impact

    We're trying to explain why France has a "lower than expected" rate of heart disease given their fat intake, whereas this is making France seem like it has a "higher than expected" rate of other diseases given their fat intake. Why would the French be getting MORE of these fat-related diseases and LESS of heart disease, which is also a fat-related disease?

    3% picked this

  5. Cigarette smoking significantly increases the

    Cheats Paradox

    We're trying to explain why France has lower-than-expected heart disease, given its fat intake. This is an answer that would explain higher rates of heart disease, so it's the opposite of what we're looking for.

    2% picked this

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