PrepTest 104, Section 4, Question 16
Nutrition education in schools once promoted daily consumption(25 more words not shown)
Each of the following, if(8 more words not shown)
- AThe division into(35 more words not shown)
- BThe omission of(29 more words not shown)
- CA healthy diet(31 more words not shown)
- DThe recommendation that(26 more words not shown)
- EEncouraging the daily(39 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What makes this advice dangerous? Eating something from each food group doesn't immediately sound like a health problem. I want to know what goes wrong when people follow the recommendation.
The amount could matter. Someone might read the four categories as instructions to eat equal amounts from each. Or perhaps the daily recommendation encourages a harmful eating habit. Those are possibilities to investigate, not reasons to declare the advice dangerous before we have the evidence.
What we’re looking for
The question asks for the exception: four answers support the criticism, and one does not. So keep asking how each answer helps explain a harmful result. An answer describing a benefit of the advice would point in the other direction.
Working the answers
- A
This supplies the kind of problem we were considering. The categories can give people the impression that they should eat equal amounts from each group, even though the answer says milk and meat should be consumed in smaller amounts because of their fats. Following that mistaken interpretation could therefore promote the health problems the critic is concerned about. A supports the criticism, so it isn't our exception.
- B
I initially hesitate here. Missing a beneficial food doesn't sound as directly dangerous as actively eating too much of something harmful. But B does describe a way the recommendation could mislead people: it makes fish seem less healthy than red meat, despite fish's beneficial oils.
That gives the criticism some support by identifying a mistaken impression that could steer food choices away from a beneficial option. It doesn't have to establish that anyone who avoids fish will become ill. This is weaker support than some of the other choices, but compare it with D before rejecting it.
- C
Someone could eat one banana and think, “I've covered fruits and vegetables for the day.” Under C's facts, that falls short of the several different fruits and vegetables a healthy diet should include. The recommendation's wording encourages a mistaken sense that the person has done enough. That supports the criticism.
- DCorrect
This describes a benefit: the reminder encourages people to eat foods that supply needed nutrients. How does that support calling the recommendation dangerous? It doesn't. It gives us a reason to favor that part of the advice.
That's the decisive difference from B. B at least identifies a misleading impression that could worsen food choices. D identifies something helpful. We don't need to conclude that the entire recommendation is healthy to see that this answer does not support the attack on it.
- E
Checking off the four food groups doesn't prevent someone from eating too many sweets and fats as well. A person could follow the recommendation and then eat lots of sugary snacks, while wrongly believing that meeting the four-group rule guarantees a healthy diet. That false sense of sufficiency supports the criticism.
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